Bristol Record Office online catalogue

There are around 290,000 catalogue records available to browse in our online catalogue.  

Go to our online catalogue to start searching

Of course, although it was high-tech in its day, we are very grateful that technology has moved on from that pictured here in Bristol City Council's 1960s computer centre!

The catalogue includes material for all the types of archives we look after, such as:

• Bristol's schools
• organisations 
• council departments
• public bodies
• families
• estates
• individuals 
• ecclesiastical bodies. 

The most recent collections of records to have been uploaded include:

• Society of Merchant Venturers
• Ashton Court estate
• City Plan Books, which contain various plans of parts of the city of Bristol dating from 1707 to 1885
• The Vaughan Collection, which includes over 9,000 photographic postcards of Bristol and surrounding areas, dating from the early years of the 20th century
• Parish of St Michael, Winterbourne
• Records collected through the Bristol Black Archives Partnership.

The online catalogue contains descriptive information about many of the records we hold.  Please note that it does not yet contain references to every record: catalogue data is being entered by our staff continuously and we aim to update the catalogue several times a year.

At the moment, some of our collections are only searchable via the Access to Archives (A2A) website.  For example, the catalogue for the records of the Port of Bristol Authority.  However, we are working towards copying these catalogues across.

We have an ongoing programme of digitisation.  Please note that, except in the cases of some postcards and pictures,  the catalogue only has descriptions of the records rather than actual images.  To look at the records themselves, you will need to:

• visit our public search room or
• enquire about getting copies by post. 

Staff are always pleased to answer any questions you have.

Whatever aspect of Bristol's past or present you interests you, use our online catalogue to find out what relevant records we have. 

You will also find helpful tips on searching - select the Help link in the left hand menu on the screen.