Copies and research
What we charge
The research service costs £30.60 per half hour, up to a maximum of 1 hour (£61.20). Payment must be made before research can commence. We accept card payments over the phone, cheques made payable to Sandwell MBC, and cash/card in person.
What the charge covers
The types of searches we might undertake include:
- Electoral register searches
- Searches for baptism, marriage, or burial entries in parish registers
- Searches for patients or staff in our hospital collections
- Searches of school records
- Searches of Court registers and licensing records
- Searches in minute books, account books, salary records and correspondence files
- Newspaper searches
We will supply a search report detailing what records we have searched, their reference numbers, any information found, and advice on further lines of enquiry.
A limited number of photocopies/scans may be provided free of charge. Additional copying can be supplied according to our standard scale of fees. If copying is not possible, we will supply a transcript of the information. Please note, we cannot produce copies of material in copyright, or of original material larger than A3 size.
How long will it take?
Enquiries are dealt with in the order that we receive them. We will send you a response within 28 working days.
What happens if we don’t find anything?
Even if we are unable to find the information requested, you are still required to pay a fee for the research undertaken. We will always try to advise you on how else you might be able to find the information.
How do I get started?
Contact the Sandwell Archives team at archives_service@sandwell.gov.uk for more details, including the ‘Research Request Form’ for you to complete and return.
Enquiries we do not charge for
Although we charge for carrying out research on your behalf, do not charge for requests to find out more about our holdings, for example:
- Do you hold the records of Mitchells & Butler Breweries?
- What books do you have on the history of Wednesbury?
- Do you have records of ARP wardens in West Bromwich?
We do not charge for searches required as part of a Subject Access Request made under Article 15 of the UK-GDPR ‘Right of Access by the data Subject’. These are requests about personal information the archives may hold about you, such as your school records, information about a period you spent in hospital, or details about time spent in a Council children’s home.
Provision and use of copies, permission to publish, and copyright
Under Data Protection Legislation, personal data must be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner with personal data used in a way that does not impact on the data subject’s ‘right of privacy’, which is why we apply restricted access to some records. We reserve the right not to copy documents that contain personal information. This may only become evident following identification of the requested information.
Personal data must be used in ways that is reasonable to the individuals concerned and must not have an adverse effect on anyone. We expect that everyone using archives obtained from our service will treat the information that they obtain in a fair and lawful manner.
All copies supplied are for private study or research. You will need to obtain permission in writing from Sandwell Archives before publishing any copies that we supply to you. This includes uploading to the internet. Additional fees may be involved, and copyright rules may also apply.
Searches in closed records
If you do not wish to pay a research fee, you can book an appointment with Sandwell Archives and view the records yourself. However, some of the records we hold are not freely available for research as they contain personal information we cannot release.
Examples of such records are school admission registers and logbooks. These are closed as they contain sensitive personal data, protected under the UK-GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018. This restriction means that we cannot let researchers browse through closed records.
If you would like access to closed records, for academic research or any other kind of in-depth statistical research (such as examining trends, or research into topics such as public health) you may be given access to closed records under certain conditions, and on completion of a form.
If you are unable to carry out your research in person, we can search those records on your behalf to see if they contain information we can release to you. Searches through closed records are charged at the research service rate of £30.60 per half hour.
We can also allow you free access to closed records if you obtain written permission from the owner of the records or the Data Controller. Please ask a member of staff for more details.