General Register House, Edinburgh

General Register House interior

The ScotlandsPeople Centre is a family history centre where visitors will gain access to key Scottish resources such as birth, marriage and death records, wills, census records and coats of arms, going back almost 500 years. Everything has been digitised so all the records will be available on computer screens at your desk.

General Register House and New Register House have combined facilities to create this purpose-built family history centre. The Centre will have four search rooms, a café, a shop and a seminar facility spread over the two historic buildings in the heart of Edinburgh.

Once the Centre is fully operational the cost for a full day's search will be £10.

The Centre is currently open from 09:30 to 16:30, Monday to Friday. (The Centre is closed for lunch from 12:30 to 13:30).

Free two-hour taster sessions are available to allow visitors to get an idea of just how easy it is to start looking up family trees. Anyone wishing to have a free two-hour search in the Adam Dome using the new software can phone 0131 314 4300 to book a seat.

For those wishing to book a day place at one of the General Register House Search Rooms, for a fee of £10 per day, please call this number: 0131 314 4449.

These free search sessions will run from 10:00-12:00 and 14:00-16:00 and both sessions will be followed by a short talk on the resources of The National Archives of Scotland and how its records may be used for family research.

Anyone booking a seat will have access to all the digitised birth, death, marriage, wills, census and coats of arms records going back almost 500 years. However, as these are free taster sessions there will be no access to microfilmed records, stand alone computers or the library. Visitors will not be able to use laptops in the Adam Dome.

The shop is also open for business. It is hoped that the Reid, Matheson and Dundas search rooms will be operational shortly.

Staff will be on hand to offer help and advice and there will be a Help and Information manual on each desk.

Visitors can print off copies or save images to a memory stick. Prices are below.

The taster sessions are for new and inexperienced users to get familiar with the Centre and software and as such visitors are only entitled to one free search session each.

Visit of Her Majesty the Queen

Her Majesty the Queen visited the ScotlandsPeople Centre on Friday July 4th 2008 to mark the completion of building work on the site. The Royal party toured the search rooms, viewed some original and digitised records, and met staff and contractors.

A plaque was unveiled to commemorate the event and Her Majesty signed the visitors book. Full details and pictures of the event are available in our Project update.

Registrar General Duncan Macniven said:

“Scotland’s people have always been intrigued by their roots and family history, with thousands of people visiting our search rooms every year.

“The new, improved facilities in the ScotlandsPeople Centre will give customers instant access to a wider range of key records in a magnificent historical setting. We have space now to offer two-hour tasters to people who are new to family history, to let them see how easy it is to trace your ancestors.

“We are all delighted to see this project complete and look forward to welcoming customers from Scotland and further afield.”

Famous Scots Exhibition 2009

During the Homecoming celebrations in 2009, we will reveal the family roots of a number of famous Scots. Their family histories will be the subject of a series of rolling exhibitions in part of the newly-created ScotlandsPeople Centre in Edinburgh.

For everyone coming to Scotland during Homecoming Year, the records in the ScotlandsPeople Centre are the starting point for exploring their Scottish ancestry. We will be showcasing the Scottish connections and family histories of famous living Scots, and also showing how everyone of Scots descent can search for their own stories.

Who will be featured in the exhibition? Further information will be made available later in 2008. Enquiries can be sent to the project team at FamousScots@nas.gov.uk.

Other News

Have a look at the Building News pages to see latest developments at the Centre.

Centre User Group

The minutes of the latest meeting of the Centre User Group are available here: Centre User Group minutes, June 12th 2008.