Help

Simple search

You can search a keyword, phrase or reference number using the search box at the top of the page. This will return search results with the records displayed in order of the most relevant first.

Search for an exact phrase by using quotation marks, e.g. “Knebworth House”.

Use an asterisk * to represent any letters you’re not certain of. For example: ‘M*mms’ will bring up results for ‘Mymms’ and ‘Mimms’. You can’t start a search term with an asterisk (e.g. ‘*ertfordshire’ will not find anything).

 Filtering the results

The results page displays basic information about each record and a thumbnail image where available.

You can sort the results further using the filter tool on the left hand side. You can filter results by title, date, or type of record (i.e. images, maps).

Search results will include pages and shop items. To restrict your results only to catalogue entries, use the filter for ‘records from the collections’. If you’re using a mobile, you can display the filtering menu by clicking on the list icon (top right).

 Advanced search

The advanced search (next to the search bar) allows you to enter a document reference (identifier). This box is case sensitive.

There are further options to search a specific date range for entries (e.g. 1530 – 1540 or 19th cent), or search by title, location, format or creator.

 Viewing the results

Once you’ve selected a record to view, you can then browse the collection it forms a part of by selecting the ‘browse this collection’ tab. This may help you to find related items which are of interest to you.