But there is more. Each floor has a bookshelf surrounding the chamber, but behind each is yet another row of shelves, not to mention the multitude of alcoves tucked here-and-there. (In fact most of the OPRs are tucked away in these alcoves, as well as the microfiche and microfilm copies of the records). In fact we filmed a great scene for Ancestors in the OPR room, surround by literally hundreds of years of history.

Throughout the stacks are a series of very Victorian, very ornate, spiral staircases which is how the staff navigates their warren. An elevator ("lift" in local parlance) was added later, I'm told, but it only goes from the first to the fourth floors. (I pity the poor staff that has to climb these stairs, as pretty as they are, several dozen times a day!)

Denise Cowan, Head of Records Enterprise at the GRO, and one of our guides for the day, informed me that there is more than 6.5 km (4 miles) of shelving space available. There are currently more than 500,000 individual volumes. What is truly amazing about this structure is that even though hey now have 140 years worth of volumes more than when they opened -- not to mention the additional books added with their additional responsibilities -- the amazing thing is there are quite a few shelves still empty! What foresight! It got me to thinking what this place might have looked like in 1863 when it opened, with less than eight years' worth of civil registers, censuses and OPRs. How lonely the shelves must have seemed then!

As for the records themselves, let me start with the census. The census form used in Scotland is almost identical to that of England. The census from 1851 to 1901 (the last publicly available returns) include familial relationships plus a specific place of birth (as opposed to the 1841 census which has no relationships listed, and only identifies if they are from the registration parish or not.) As a bonus, since many of the enumerators were Irish, for those who have Irish ancestors, they will find that the later census list the town, village or at least county in Ireland rather than the more generic "Ireland" used by many other enumerators. The GRO maintains all copies of the original census returns. Unlike many jurisdictions in North America, including, I am sad to say, Canada, the census returns were NOT burned or pulped after being microfilmed!

The Birth records for Scotland are unique in that they asked an additional question, about the marriage status of the parents. I am not aware of any other jurisdiction which so thoroughly asked whether the parents of the child were in fact married, and further, WHEN and WHERE they were married. As genealogists this is invaluable information! (Caution must be given to the veracity of this information, however, given the societal stakes in being required to provide this information!)

Marriage records are as expected, although they contain an additional detail not found in records of many other jurisdictions: aside from the names and occupations of the parents of the bride and groom (including the respective mothers' maiden name), they also identify whether the parents were then deceased. For Marriages, the GRO not only possesses the original state registration volumes (where information was compiled on a national basis from the various registration districts), but they also have most of the original district registers which contain the original signatures of the bride, groom and witnesses. These are housed on the top floor, behind the census returns.

The Death Records are not as complete in details as some jurisdictions, although, as was common, over time they began asking more questions on the death registration form. Generally speaking, the spouse(s) are all listed, as are both parents, again including the mother's maiden name. As always, this information is subject to the limitation of the knowledge and motives of the informant.

Many of you may be aware of Scotland's People (www.ScotlandsPeople.gov.uk) which is the online presence of the GRO. They have digitized and made available all of their publicly-available records (more about what this means later) and put them online. This includes: (1) all census returns from 1841 to 1901, (2) all Statutory Birth records from 1855 to 1906, (3) all Statutory Marriages from 1855 to 1931, and (4) all Statutory Deaths from 1855 to 1956. Not only are they fully indexed (subject of course to the foibles of such indexing projects), but you can view a copy of the original images (at a cost of course!)

As well, the Old Parish Records are also available as follows: (1) Births and Baptisms from 1553 to 1854, and (2) Banns and Marriages also from 1553 to 1854. (The oldest individual record is for a baptism of Elizabeth Hay in 1553.) The OPRs are also fully indexed, and images of the originals were recently added to their online collection. It should be remembered that the OPR records are only those extant at the time from when they were collected in 1861. Unfortunately not all OPR records survive, although more than nine million entries were found when they did their recent digitization project, which gives some idea of how many DO survive.

The only problem with Scotland's People is that they've taken enough money from me over the years to pay for a new wing I think. While it's absolutely astounding that nearly 100% of the publicly available BMD, census, and OPR records are available for search and download, it can be quite costly. You buy credits at a rate of £6 for 30 credits (or 20p for each credit). Each page of search results costs you one credit (20p) and viewing each image will cost you 5 credits (£1). If you have a common name, these searches can be quite costly as the birth index, for example, only has the name of the child, not the parents, so you may have to view several records to find yours.

You can, if you're lucky enough to plan a visit to Edinburgh, search the GRO records in person. They do, however, have a limited number of computer terminals, as was the case when I was there, so you are advised to book your terminal in advance (see their website for more details).

For obvious reasons you cannot, generally speaking, consult the original records. Instead, when you arrive you are directed to computer terminal (after paying your £17-per day registration fee) where you can view the same records available to you online at Scotland's People. However, without the per-search and per-page limitation you can search to your hearts content. If you desire a photocopy of the page, it will cost you 50p per page, or £8 for a certified extract. If the record is not online (a very few are not), you will then be directed to the microfiche/microfilm copy of the record.

After we finished filming for the day, I had a few hours spare, which of course I spent hunched in front of a terminal. I was able to find many records which I dare not search for online as the cost was too prohibitive. For example, I did not know when one of my ancestors died, so I began in 1901 (when she last appears in the census) and searched each year thereafter. With a common name like "Annie Donnelly" I was in trouble, even when I limited my search to Glasgow; there were simply too many records. But with an unlimited viewing capability, I was able to view several dozens of images before I found the correct one. I reckon that one search alone would have cost me £50-£60 at least!

But I've saved the best for last. What I did not know until I arrived was that ALL the records currently held by GRO are viewable at their office. They have digitized and made searchable, almost everything in their collection! Those on the website are the publicly-available records and are subject to standard 100-year rule (100 for births, 75 for marriages, 50 for deaths), but on-site you can view all the records. And I do mean ALL. If a registration record has been filed with the GRO you can view it (although not necessarily digitally).

There is a caveat to this of course (there really is no such thing as a free lunch!) All the post-publicly available records can only be viewed. You may not copy, photograph or print them. You may, however, make your own notes and transcriptions. (Unfortunately paper is required since the workstations are so small, a laptop is impractical, although they are currently building a larger facility nearby, just for more computer terminals).

I did not realize that I would have time to do a bit of personal research while there (the weather co-operated for a change!), nor did I know that all these modern records were available. I had given up on trying to trace most of my modern Scottish relatives (my grandfather left in 1913) as their records are beyond those available on Scotland's People. But in short order I found a few dozen new relatives!

It was a domino of information. The death record told me the name of their spouse. This lead to the marriage record which told me (obviously) their date of marriage. This in turn told me when to start looking for children. I then found the children's deaths, which lead to their spouse, and their children, and so on. The computer interface is similar enough to Scotland's People that search is quite fast and efficient!

However, I was not properly prepared, not knowing then what I know now, so I had not brought my notebooks, nor paper to transcribe my records. All I had was my script for Ancestors, and some additional scraps of paper in my folder. I was using these to jot down my transcriptions. I was writing in the margins, on both sides, squeezing everything I could from these few precious pieces of paper. In all I transcribed almost 50 documents! I took a dozen pencils down to the nub.

If I managed that much in 2½ hours, image a day -- or a week -- of research! And while I am certainly not going to be giving up my subscription to Scotland's People any time soon, I am definitely going back to the GRO -- and next time I will bring a whole pack of notebooks!!