Searching the catalogues
Online versions of our catalogues of water related collections are growing all the time. Because of the current variation in availability of each of the catalogues, users wishing to search for water related archives using the Manuscripts Online Catalogue may find the following information and advice useful.
Collection Level Descriptions
The online catalogue contains overall descriptions of each water related collection. They can be accessed directly from the opening search screen of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue by clicking on the drop-down menu at the bottom left of the screen which reads 'Browse collection-level records'. Select 'Rivers, drainage and water records' and then click 'Go'. This will retrieve a full list of all the collections in question. Alternatively, they can be browsed from the following links:
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Trent River Catchment Board; Trent River Board; and Trent River Authority (R) (catalogue record ) Arranged into three divisions:
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Court of Sewers for the Level of Hatfield Chase; and The Hatfield Chase Corporation (HCC) (catalogue record )
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Brigg Court of Lincolnshire Commissioners of Sewers (Br) (catalogue record )
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Trent Navigation Company (RtN) (catalogue record )
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Records of the City of Nottingham Water Department, and other material from the Hucknall Road Office of Severn Trent Water Authority (R/HR) (catalogue record )
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Stoke Bardolph Sewage works and Bulcote Model Farm, 1892-1975 (R/SB) (catalogue record )
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Plans of Papplewick Pumping Station, Nottinghamshire, 1879-1947 (PPS) ( catalogue record )
Item level catalogues
Detailed catalogues describing the contents of each collection (except the Stoke Bardolph collection) are available in the Manuscripts and Special Collections Reading Room, via traditional hard copy catalogues. We are currently working on making these collections available as part of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue.
The following item level records are available on the Manuscripts Online Catalogue:
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Series RE/DOP . Photographs from the Engineer's Department of the Trent River Authority and its predecessors; 1903-1973. Descriptions of approximately 3,500 photographs. Click on the catalogue record for this series, and then on the 'Click here to view this record in context' link, to browse through each description. Alternatively, use the search strategies listed below. Digitized versions of some of these photographs appear on our Digital Gallery .
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RTN . Records of the Trent Navigation Company, 1780-1934. Click on the catalogue record , and then on the 'Click here to view this record in context' link to browse through each description.
Search Strategies
From the opening search screen of the Manuscripts Online Catalogue, click on 'Search the main catalogue - Catalogue records'. You can conduct a free text search across multiple fields by typing a keyword into the 'AnyText' box.
If you find you are retrieving a number of false hits, you can narrow your search down by using the other search options. For instance, type your required search term into the 'AnyText' box, and also type 'RE/DOP' into the 'DocumentRef' box. This will ensure that only results from the Engineer's Department of the Trent River Authority collection are retrieved.
Searches can also be narrowed down by date. Type your required search term into 'AnyText', and also type the exact year, or a range of years, into the 'Date' field. You can even combine this with a 'DocumentRef' search to target the search still further.
Remember to try alternative spellings if there are no initial results.
As yet, searching via name, place or subject indexes is not available for water related collections. Names, places and words can be searched for using the free text search strategies listed above. Remember to try alternative spellings if there are no initial results.
Next page: Timeline of water-related legislation and developments in Nottingham and the East Midlands