How to search this website

A search looks through the transcriptions and returns every manuscript page that contains your term. Each page is referenced by its British Library film number, paired with the manuscript's own page number in the form film / page. The film number beside each result is a link, so you can open the original image on the British Library's website and check the wording for yourself. This matters because the transcriptions were made by AI from old handwriting and cannot be taken as flawless, so any page you find is best checked against the original.

You can refine a search using simple words, exact phrases, wildcard characters and Boolean operators. The Boolean keywords must be typed in UPPERCASE, for example AND, OR and NOT.

Words and phrases

Single word. Typing Munden finds every page containing that word.

Multiple words. When you type more than one word, these keywords control how they combine.

OR. Typing Munden OR Blackmore finds pages containing either Munden or Blackmore, or pages containing them both. This can also be written simply as Munden Blackmore, the space between the words operating silently as OR.

AND. Typing Governor AND mutiny narrows the search, finding only pages where both words appear together. Where OR casts the widest net, AND returns the fewest pages, since every word you add is another condition each page must meet.

NOT. Typing Jamestown NOT Virginia finds pages containing Jamestown but excludes any that also mention Virginia. The word before NOT is the one you are searching for, and the word after NOT is the one you are screening out. Reversing the pair to Virginia NOT Jamestown would do the opposite.

Exact phrase. Typing “Black Oliver” inside double quotation marks finds that exact phrase.

Wildcards

Single character. Typing a question mark matches one unknown character in that position. For example, w?ll finds wall, will or well, sh?p finds ship or shop, and d?ck finds deck or dock.

Word start. Typing an asterisk matches any number of characters from that point onwards, so a single search can catch a whole family of words. For example, plant* finds planter, planters, plantation, plantations and planting.

Phonetic search

Similar-sounding spellings. Typing a caret finds names and words that sound alike but are spelt differently, which is useful because the records contain many variant spellings of the same name. For example, ^Boucher finds both Boucher and Bourcher, and ^Mashborne finds both Mashborne and Mashbourne.