Voyage, service, village and memory
Following a family story through records
Move between passenger and military research guides, a village-record example and the questions raised by testimony and surnames.
7 entries · 14 min reading, calculated from article text
Use your browser’s print command for a copy of this reading list.
Your reading goal
Keep the person, journey, service, administrative record and remembered account distinct while looking for corroborating names, places and dates.
- 01Collections · 2 min read
Passenger lists and Punjabi migration research: follow the voyage and its records
Find the relevant ship record by port, direction and date, and recognise the limits of British, Canadian and shipping-company collections.
- 02Collections · 2 min read
Army records and Punjabi soldiers: distinguish service, unit and commemoration evidence
Follow British Indian Army catalogue references, Punjab village registers and commemoration records without confusing their coverage or treating a missing name as proof of no service.
- 03Collections · 2 min read
Settlement reports and land records: follow the district, edition and purpose
Locate historical Punjab settlement reports and use a Rohtak example to distinguish the printed report, village record and limited administrative genealogy.
- 04Collections · 2 min read
Refugee registration records: researcher guide
A reproduced family card, a historical land-claim judgment and an archive holdings entry show why refugee registration records need to be identified by purpose and issuing authority.
- 05Collections · 2 min read
The 1947 Partition Archive: a researcher’s guide
Distinguish public excerpts from research access, read the archive’s current conditions, and preserve an interview’s context and permissions.
- 06Journal · 2 min read
Why is memory different from a transcript of events?
A remembered event, a recorded interview and its written transcript are separate records. Later concerns, the interviewer’s questions and editorial choices all affect how an experience is presented.
- 07Journal · 2 min read
What makes a surname origin claim unreliable?
A surname claim becomes unreliable when it replaces dated evidence about a particular family with a universal story inferred from the modern spelling.
A question to carry with you
Choose one claim from your reading. Identify its source and locator. What does that source directly establish, and what would need a second source?