INDEX STRUCTURE (for Archivist's guidance)

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☞  This page is subject to progressive minor change as new requirements are identified.

 

In general, you don't need to learn (or even understand) the system — just follow each option until you find the most suitable match.
You wouldn't try to learn every detail in the road-map in your car — indeed you might never open some of the pages — but it's a guide when you need it —
so you wouldn't, say, use your atlas to find your way around your own village!
This list covers almost everything met so far, so if you don't find exactly what you need here, it suggests too where to find what you might want to add to it.
There is no "right" or "wrong" for a resource's Reference-ID, as long as it's MEANINGFUL and unique, and CONSISTENT with like items — hence this page.
They are certainly not "cast in stone", but are listed here just to suggest some degree of consistency across our resources when allocating their Ref-IDs.
The structure must also be ADAPTABLE as new collections are presented to us, such as 
the late Sir Basil Eddis of Aldeburgh's photographs of the 1938 and 1953 floods (see Newsletter 60, page 4: with Reference-IDs prefixed "38" or "53"), 
the Leiston Grammar School photos (prefixed "LGS"), Ordnance Survey 25" maps ("OA" to "OW"), and maps etc. from the Snape Archive ("SA" or "SN").
Even if some items in a collection don't appear individually on the main Index, it's helpful for consistency if individual ID's are aligned with these standards.
Responsibility for allocation of Reference-ID's isn't limited to one person, though there must be only one agreed "master" electronic version of the Index!

 

Allocating each resource in our Help Centre with a unique Reference-ID helps to ensure that everything is catalogued (so not "forgotten"), and simplifies checking subsequently that that has indeed occurred.  It also helps to "weed out" duplicates and old versions that have been superceded.  For physical items, the reference-ID is usually written on its "PROPERTY OF" label — affixed at the top-right corner of the book, and also on any dust cover.  For digital files (such as .JPG images) it is the first nine characters of the filename, generally followed by a meaningful contraction of the item's Title (for example, 38ALBABDY_lifeboat-Abdy-Beauclerk.jpg for a photo from the 1938 floods of the Aldeburgh [=ALB] lifeboat).

This structure is not intended to be pedantic or fixed, but just guidance to ease the task of generating meaningful, consistent references for new acquisitions — extra similar codes can be added as need be.  That being said, a reference can be "just a sensible, recognisable free-format abbreviation of its Title, place it relates to, or its purpose", as it says below, in the "Structure of Reference-ID's in column G" section.  Column G of the Index holds the ref-ID, so the spreadsheet can be sorted on this to bring like items close together, as similar references point to similar or related items, whenever they were originally acquired.  Conventionally, the Index is published sorted by columns C, D and E (respectively County, Parish and Item-title), which is just how the Index was (in theory) originally ordered. 

☞ You can jump to «STRUCTURE OF REFERENCE-ID'S» here.

 

The item's Title or Name of a resource should be as close as possible to what is actually printed on it — this is explained more fully under Column E below.  If a resource (such as an envelope or folder) produced by our Group has an unhelpful, vague or ambiguous title, perhaps it should be changed to something clearer, and then the Index entry can be matched to that.  Any initial word "The" is omitted — also generally any initial word "A" or "An".


FORMAT OF INDEX LINES

Most resources (such as a book or CD) have only a single entry in the Index, but some have several, so a particular reference-ID may appear more than once.

For example, the lines …

col.A B C D   E F ... G [... H ... I]
line-no Category County Parish Item-title "Notes" / "Memo" columns H / I are often omitted from public versions of the Index.
SN0205 Directory Suffolk Aldeburgh 1962/1963 Street Directory — Aldeburgh, Leiston, Saxmundham and Districts
SN0314 Directory Suffolk Leiston  1962/1963 Street Directory … etc
SN0359 Directory Suffolk Saxmundham 1962/1963 Street Directory … etc
SN0631 Directory Suffolk Alde Valley 1962/1963 Street Directory … etc

 

… all point to the same one copy of the street directory, now allocated reference "DIR1962AV".   Line no. 631 for "Alde Valley" (AV) has been added to aid traditional searching "by eye", as of course the directory covers more places than just the three towns listed — but only broadly the Alde Valley, excluding Framlingham for example.  The Alde Valley items of course always appear within the County of "Suffolk", because we don't spill into another county.

It is useful to know that references for items in Categories of CENsus, DIRectory (as above) and MAP are often followed by a year (such as CEN1881UK), whatever the item's title.  The final two characters often relate to the County or other geographic area (here the UK).

Also, Titles often include [extra text in square brackets] to assist searches for key family-history data, for example —
—  "famil" (for "family" or "families"), typically for named Alde Valley families featuring in magazine articles;
"Garrett":  for the famous family (of Aldeburgh, Leiston's Long Shop and Snape Maltings), who were major C19th/C20th employers locally;
"WWI":  First World War data ["W-W-eye" also often used in Reference-ID's] — typically these will also have Category "History WWI" in Column B;
"WW2":  Second World War data [very few of these] — sometimes used in Reference-ID's and/or Category "History WW2";
— "[maps" or "[photos" can help identify a book where its Category isn't "Maps" or "Photos", yet it does happen to contain useful maps or photos within the text.

☞  Other helpful keywords are listed here.

Text in square brackets can also contain helpful extra information to clarify an item's subject/content and/or aid easier use of the "Search" function, for example:

LN0523 | Biog/Remin | Australia | Tasmania | Female Convicts from Suffolk [to Tasmania, 1827 to 1852] | paper* | BIOFEM2AU | ...
LN1655 | Directory | Bristol | Matthews's New Bristol Directory for the year 1793-4 [file GB0860/0860-b.pdf] | CD | DIR1793BS | ...
LN1584 | History WW2 | Suffolk | Alde Valley | Book review: “A Very Dangerous Locality: ... Sandlings in [WW2]” [SLHC NL96, p19] | mag | SLHCNL19E | ...

As the Index is now a spreadsheet, you will realise that you can easily "Find" all "WWI"/etc records online at your leisure.  Similarly, if you can download the data into a read-writable spreadsheet (as explained on the Index page), you can then sort the Index so that all resources containing (say) 1881 Census records are displayed together, as their reference-ID's are prefixed "CEN1881".


ORDER OF INDEX COLUMNS

The first five columns of the Index are (A) Line-no, (B) Category, (C) County, (D) Parish and (E) Item-title.  When the Index-spreadsheet is published on this website, or printed out (as it is from time to time) for use in our Help Centre, the entries are sorted by "County" (C), then by "Parish" (D), then by Item-title (E).  Members who are familiar with the old printed Index will recognise that that is broadly how it was ordered before, though it was difficult to maintain it, as it was a Word-type document.

If you wish to sort the Index into a different order, or process it in some other way, there are instructions on the website "Index" page on how first to produce a sortable/editable copy on your own computer.  

 

COLUMN A: Line-number

The Line-no column (A) contains entries of "LN" and a four-digit number.  Broadly, the first 629 lines are from the last version of the printed Index (dated 24th November 2016), except for a few lines swapped around to reunite related entries that had become separated over time, or remove items we no longer have, etc.  So, with the normal County/Parish/Title order, original lines stay broadly in order, with a few "newer" lines interspersed amongst them but mostly following them, broadly in the serial order in which they're appended to the Index.  

 

COLUMN B: Category

The "Category" column often determines the first Element/part of the Reference-ID.  It usually refers to the data within the item itself.  Exceptionally (for example if it's a Suffolk Record Office/Suffolk Archives publication) the item might list the library's reference-IDs where that data can be found at the SRO (not in our Help Centre) — which then might be categorised (say) as "Census" or "P-Register", rather than more vaguely as "Guide" or "Index", but, if there are several items in the one publication, they will (as usual) share our common Ref-ID (prefixed, for example, "IDXSRO"). 

Of course, some of these Categories overlap somewhat, but "BMD" and "Census" tend to be civil authority records, whilst "MIs" and "P-Register" relate more to cemeteries, churches and chapels (including non-conformist).  Local-authority cemetery indexes are typically categorised as "MIs", as only their governance and administration differ from that for churchyards.

CATEGORY   MEANING: for fuller definitions (especially "Census", "Index" and "MIs") see "ELEMENT 1" below. USUAL REF-ID PREFIX
Biog/Remin   Biography and/or personal reminiscences of an inidividual — or book/collection of such biographies, etc. BIO
BMD   (any one or more of) Births, Marriages and Deaths; also baptisms/christenings, banns and burials BMD
Census E1 Census [see "CEN" below] [Ref-ID's prefixed "yyp" are Media="CD FT", meaning "Family Tree" mag.CDs] CEN or yyp
Directory   Directory (which includes gazetteers and local/church guidebooks); Manorial Records DIR
Fam-History
 

 
typically magazine articles mentioning named Alde Valley families or individuals [if not "Biog/Remin"];
                also individuals' Last Wills & Testaments, Probate Valuations, Tax Assessments and similar

(various)
Guide   Guides (includes "how to" resources); data-collection forms (prefixed "HOW"+hyphen) HOW
History History (excluding Family History, and if not specificially WWI or WW2) (various)
History WW2 (N.B. This Category sorts before W-W-eye!) — also, same "Category" comment as for WWI just below (various)
History WWI (Category of "Biog/Remin" or "MIs" might be more appropriate — if so, include "[WWI]" in the Title) (various)
Index (tithe) E1 Index or list (incl. lists of tax assessments — but treat individuals' assessments as Fam-History above) IDX (or: tithe = SN)
Map or Maps   Map or (such as in an atlas, or if the principal feature of a local guidebook) maps MAP or O or SA or SN
Map (tithe)   Map — not necessarily formally a tithe map, but may have many field-names annotated by hand MAP or SA or SN
MIs
 
E1 monumental inscriptions, war memorials, military Rolls of Honour, churchyard surveys,
                                                                       church record transcriptions, graves, burial plots/indexes

MI
Photo(s) Photo: digital scan of photo, postcard or similar;  Photos: book (or collection) mainly of old photos PHO, LGS or PD
P-Register   Parish Records or Registers PR

 

Category "Fam-History" usually indicates magazine articles on Alde Valley named families or individuals, typically amateur family-historians' investigative experiences searching for their forebears and/or factual local community history articles.  There may be several lines all with the same reference-ID (usually for one magazine-issue) for each of the places where such families lived (and indeed descendants may still do so), typically in a cluster of villages.  Also, named-family records that are listed under other Categories may have the text "family" or "families" within their Titles to ease their discovery with a Search.

   There is NO "Category" of "magazine": instead most likely use one of those marked above with a dagger  , but there are various "Media" of/prefixed "mag".

    Also, we don't retain physical photographs, so there is NO equivalent "Media" of "photo(s)" (in Column F), as might be expected.

E1  For fuller definitions (especially for Categories "Census", "Index" and "MIs"), see "Element 1" below.

 

COLUMN C: County

 

The County column (C) is broadly self-explanatory, usually UK counties, and of course very often Suffolk.  However, it includes entries for larger geographical entities such as Australia, British Isles, East Anglia, England, "Eng&Wales", Ireland (meaning the whole island, typically pre-1922), London, Scotland, UK, USA, Wales and (!)World.  It could also include Irish counties.  This list is not exhaustive, and can be added to as need be.

If "County" is a country outside the British Isles, the corresponding "Parish" can contain names of states or geographical regions (such as Massachusetts, New England and Tasmania), typically emigrant or transportation destinations.

 

COLUMN D: Parish

The Parish column (D) is also broadly self-explanatory, but includes the names of towns — and entries for "Alde Valley" (always, of course, within the County of "Suffolk"!) for such items as the "1962/1963 Street Directory ..." mentioned above.  The column can also include names of civil Districts, ecclesiastical Benefices and Deaneries, historic Hundreds and Poor-Law Unions, Registration Districts or other sub-divisions of counties — or, as explained above, overseas regions, etc.

 

COLUMN E: Item-title/name

Each Item-title, in Column E, is listed as closely as possible to what is shown on the item, sometimes abbreviated with dots (…).  If there is useful data in the title too long to be shown, the item may be annotated "[NB]", which cross-refers to a note in jobsheet "NB".  Conversely, sometimes a note [within square brackets] is added to the Title as a "keyword" to clarify it and/or to aid searches — for example, as mentioned already, First World War/Great War items ought to contain "[WWI]" in their Title, if their Category isn't "History WWI".  Similarly, family-history records that don't most naturally fall into the "Family Hist" Category may contain  "family" or "families" in such a note.  Other suitable keyword comments are listed here, but can be added to the list as they're identified.  Also, it is helpful within index-entries for items held on CD's to include the item's filename (for example, "[file GB1022.pdf]"), or a mention of an alternative or more conveniently accessible source of the same information (e.g. https://maps.nls.uk/view/207356514).  Any first word "The" is omitted, and usually "A" or "An" too.

If titles include serial numbers (such as with map series), an extra space may be required to ensure the Index can sort correctly on this column E, should users wish to do that — that is, ensure "10" follows "$9", and doesn't fall between 1 and 2(Only for clarity, the "extra space" is indicated here by a dollar-symbol "$").  For example, consider the two OS 25" maps "67/LXVII.$9: Grundisburgh Whitehouse Farm" and "67/LXVII.10: Grundisburgh" — these (correctly) sort differently, depending on whether they are sorted by "Parish" (Column D) or "Item title/map description/number" (Column E) but, more importantly, map 10 should never sort between "67/LXVII.$1: Clopton Church" and "67/LXVII.$2: Clopton" — which is ensured by numbers 1 to 9 within the titles having that "extra space".  Incidentally, as older OS map-blocks are identified only with Roman numbers (such as LXVII), prefixing them in the Index with the equivalent Arabic number (such as "67/") ensures correct sorting, as Roman numbers alone often won't — also, block numbers less than 10 would require an extra space (for example, "$7/VII"). 

If a new resource represents an update of another, it is helpful if an index-line for the older item can appear close to the new one within the Index, maybe by subtly rewording one or both the entries' Titles — or, as in the following example, by adding an additional index-line (here, the second one).  For illustration only here, the implicit connections are shown in bold.

LN2219 MIs Suffolk | [blank] SRO: Transcriptions of burial grounds (Suffolk E. WI,1981) [☞ links/SRO/MIWISKE81 ] MIWISKE81 NL53 …
LN2420 MIs ,, Kelsale Church Kelsale within 'Transcriptions of burial grounds' ... [☞ links/SRO/MIWISKE81 ] MIWISKE81 LN2219
LN2419 MIs ,, Kelsale Church Kelsale MIs 1981-2021: Sts Mary & Peter Churchyard Survey papers by AVSFHG [maps] KMI1981ON NL58 …

 

COLUMN F: Media

The Media-type column (F) usually suggests in which bookshelf, drawer or cupboard an item can be found, in our Help Centre.
Typical values are listed on our "Where to find things in the Help Centre" webpage, which also shows likely locations, and a schematic of the filing-cabinets.
Though there are Categories of "Photo" and "Photos", there is no such Media — instead they're typically "book M", "book R", "booklet M", "paper❋" or "PC".

 

EXTRA DETAILED CONSIDERATIONS FOR DIGITAL RESOURCES (computer files)

● Files that are ONLY available via the "Downloads" webpage are NOT indexed, as they are on the One Suffolk server, not stored in our Help Centre.
● Files of type ".doc" or ".docx" are NOT stored on our Help Centre computers, but are first converted to ".pdf" format to prevent their accidental corruption. 
● If there are equivalent/near-identical physical resources, any of the "PC" Media types above can be prefixed with "CD+" or "folder+" as appropriate.
● Graphics files may also have a laminated single- or double-sided print version with the same reference-ID, and typically stored in a lever-arch file (as "card❋").

The content of some of the more useful CD's has been secured onto one or more of the Help Centre's computers, such as Frank Huxley's "Leiston" CD (Ref-ID DIR LEI HUX) — this contains locally-related extracts from national and county Directories from 1674 to 1912.  Such items are of Media "CD+PCxx".

 

COLUMN G: Reference-ID

COLUMN H: Notes

COLUMN I: Memo

⬇︎ Ref-id Structure explained below         

Information about the source of the
resource, or other permanent notes
Temporary notes, such as queries or
reminders about required actions


 

⬇︎  

  Line-No Category County Parish Title Media Ref-ID Notes Memo
Column A B C D E F G H I
                 
      |  Published sort-order 1 2 3
  |  Typical reference-ID   Category + County? + Parish + abbrev   = Ref-ID    
  |  Printed version X X
                     

⬇︎  

|
|
|
|

When producing prints of the Index, only print Columns A to G, |  
which fit comfortably into A4 landscape sheets. |  
In order to do this, you need to define a print area first. |  
  Otherwise, printing the Index produces c.100 pages instead of c.50. |  
  In view of the size of the Index, you may prefer not to print it out at all.  
  For what it's worth, we no longer print it ourselves, as we consider it's an unnecessary use of paper and ink.

 


STRUCTURE OF REFERENCE-ID'S (in column G)

The structured nine-character reference-ID relates to one identifiable physical resource (such as a CD or a book) or to one computer-file, and is generally based on its Category, County and/or Parish (Columns B, C and D, in that order) with maybe its Title (column E).

It is useful to know that references for CENsus, DIRectory and MAP are often followed by a year (such as CEN1881UK), whatever the item's title.

For a fully-structured ID, there are up to four elements as follows —
Element 1 relates to column B (Category), but is often not used;
Element 2 relates to Place — columns C and D (County and Parish);
Element 3 depends on 1 and 2, usually related to the Title in Column E;
Element 4 (with Media/Col.F value "mag"azine) is an issue-date, e.g. "185" for May 2018 —
OR just a sensible, recognisable free-format abbreviation such as an Element 1/column-B/Category,
followed by an ≈six-character contraction of of its Title or its purpose
(for example, "HOW SEAMAN" for the Guide "My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman").

Each correctly-indexed physical resource has a sticky "PROPERTY-OF" label on which its nine-character Reference-ID is written, such as "CEN 1881 UK", with spaces inserted just for clarity.  However, the microfiches in envelopes within the blue storage box are not individually marked, but instead are filed in alphabetical order of the Title actually on each fiche — it seemed pointless to mark them with their Reference and then re-sort them, especially as the very action of removing the fiches before writing on each envelope's label might have damaged them.  Also, Ref-IDs are no longer written on "@LEIS-LIB" books, though each should still carry a PROPERTY-OF label.  

 

Valid characters in Reference-IDs are most usually upper-case letters «A» to «Z», digits «0» to «9», and hyphen «-».  The following are also valid —
— lower-case suffix letters for  LGSPANyyf  photo-fragments «a», «b», «c», «d», «e», «f», «m», «p» or «q» see Element 3 below for full detail;
— lower-case "m" for "minutes" for stills (within Photos Deposit) taken from the Cecil Lay TV documentary, e.g. "PDARL1m49" at 1m49s into the video;video;
— lower-case "α" (alpha) for form/class names with LGSFyyuuu Form/Class photographs;
— lower-case "c" for "cum", for example within "Aldringham-cum-Thorpe" or "Kelsale-cum-Carlton";
— slash «/», such as in 1939/40but a related digital-filename needs apostrophe « ' » at that position, as a slash in filenames confuses most computer systems;
— underline «_», which helpfully sorts before most characters, used typically where a space might be useful, or a ref-ID is too short, such as OCBOULGE_ ;
— ampersand «&» , hash «#» and the plus-sign «+» can also be used;
— commercial-at symbol «@» is used exceptionally in «@LEIS-LIB», listed under ELEMENT 0 immediately below;
— The space « » character is NOT permissible, although (just for clarity) Ref-IDs' elements are separated by spaces on sticky labels, such as "CEN 1881 UK" .
No other punctuation characters should be used within reference-IDs, though characters can be added to this list if a need for them is found. 

 

ELEMENT 0 = resources shared with (or on loan from) other organisations

@LEIS-LIB = "Pen and Sword" publications held for us at Leiston Library, after review by our Chris Broom.  Read about the arrangement here.
    Each P&S book has our sticky "PROPERTY OF" label, but only "pre-Covid" books are also marked with their (obsolete) Ref-ID.
K = items within (or copied from) the Kelsale Archive, followed by eight characters as below, rather than the normal nine.
SA/Sc/SN = Snape Archive: "SNyyyyuuu"= Snape map; "SAyyyyloc"= map of nearby locality; "Scuuuuuuu"= not a map: "c"= initial of Category
  indent They are filed in order of height (and including a few by map-series number too) in map-case "SNA", behind "OW"/Waveney.
Each item's "height" (in cm as filed, maybe on its side), and any series-no, is on its SNA sticky-label in red to aid filing/re-filing —
e.g. "
OS 25in County Series Sheet 60/LX.9: Snape (1927)", which is 73cm high, is marked "73.09", with ID SN 1927 LX9.
Most resources are indexed with "Media"="map SNA", even if they don't happen to be maps, if filed in the one map-case —
but there are also a very few (usually
Media="PC") items with "Category=History" or "=Photo", so prefixed "SH" or "SP".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ELEMENT 1 ≡ Column B (Category), but can be omitted (null)

If an arrow (➡︎) is shown, those particular further element-values from the lists below usually follow.
The dagger () symbol means that Element-2 (place/County/Parish) is never used, except maybe as the unique part “uu” within “yyyyuu”.
The Polish "Ł" symbol indicates that individual issues of this general-history magazine aren't listed in the Index, but still carry "PROPERTY OF" sticky labels.

Item-lines for History Categories:  Try to avoid using the "HIS" prefix, if a more appropriate one can be chosen — if there is another item-line for the same resource, they should share the same Ref-ID anyhow, so the other line's potential Ref-ID might be more appropriate for both (or more).  If the item-line is for a particular area or community, maybe use "HIS" (or "BIO"/"BMD"/"PHO") followed by the place's abbreviation.

yyp = "Family Tree" magazine-CD donated by Janet Huckle: its main file would elsewhere have been a "CEN"sus-type entry below — "yyp 1yy1 uu":
  the "yyp" format is as in Element 4 below, followed by the Census year "1yy1", and usually the abbreviation for a county outside of East Anglia.
38locuuuu = February 1938 flood photos, where «loc» is "ALB" (Aldeburgh) or "SLA" (Slaughden), and «uuuu» is a unique reference
53locuuuu = 31/1—1/2/1953 flood photos, where «loc» is a seafront or River Alde location listed at https://avsfhg.org.uk/idx/av/, and «uuuu» is unique
PDSNAFLnn = 31/1—1/2/1953 flood photos of Snape from the Photos Deposit Collection, and where «nn» is a value between 20 and 23 [only 4 images]
    ELEMENT-1 PREFIX TYPICALLY FOLLOWED BY …
BIO = biography, personal reminiscences |
BMD = BMD (incl births-only, marriages-only, deaths-only; baptisms; burials; marriage licences and banns) ➡︎ incl.BMDyyyyuu (Element 3)
CEN1641uu (or CEN1642uu) = Oath of Protestation Returns under The Protestation of 1641 "uu" = placename abbreviation
CEN = census, Hearth Tax Returns, Lay Subsidies, Poll Returns, Electoral Registers, tax assessments and similar ➡︎ incl. CENyyyyuu (Element 3)
CHRONICii = Aldeburgh and District Local History Society's annual "The Chronicle" (with two-digit issue number "ii")  
DIR = directory/gazetteer/local guidebook: if date imprecise, match to a census-year (1yy1) if possible; or if it's for a  
decade, choose its mid-point, e.g 1920's➡︎1925 ("DIR" includes "Suffolk Snapshot" series of CD's/books) ➡︎ incl. DIRyyyyuu   (Element 3)
HIS     Item-lines for History Categories (including "Fam-History", "History WWI" and "History WW2"): PLEASE SEE note-paragraph above first.
HOW = “How to” guides (DIY books and similar, incl. "My Ancestor was a ..." book series); data-collection forms (prefixed "HOW"+hyphen)
HUXuuuuuu = Frank Huxley (1934-2020): local history notes/papers, principally Leiston area, held within one folder, all w/ unique refs (usu. "yyyyuu")
IDX = index/list/army list, militia attestations, ship's-passenger manifest, etc. [but use "DIR" if particular locality/ies] ➡︎ incl. IDXyyyyuu (Element 3)
LCMPAN49f = Leiston County Modern School digital panoramic photo, 1949 (where "f" = "p" or "q": see Element 3 below)  
LGS = Leiston Grammar School digital photographs (panoramic, staff and sports-team); also other memorabilia ➡︎ various suffixes (Element 3)
MAP = map/s: if date imprecise, match to a census-year (1yy1) if poss: but see "OA" etc below for OS flat maps ➡︎ incl. MAPyyyyuu (Element 3)
         also: MAPnnncov = "OS of GB 1” to 1 mile Map (Seventh Series) Index of Large Scale National Plans", map no. nnn for area covered
MISSINGuu = missing item from within a set, with “uu”nique-id — if the item ever "turns up", its ref-ID will be corrected.  
MI = monumental inscriptions, war memorials, military Rolls of Honour, ch'yard surveys, church record transcriptions, graves, burial plots/indexes
        also: MIEXplace = fiches entitled "Essex Monumental Inscriptions: placename — Essex Society for Family History" (cardboard box "MIEX")
NLii-yypp = digital issue of our Newsletter (where "ii" = issue no; "yy" = year; "pp" = period JA/Q1/AP/Q2/JE/JL/Q3/AU/OC/Q4) but not indiv. indexed
     
These are  flat maps, most Districts filed alphabetically by place-name, except Ipswich geographically by postcode. ☞  see: OS 25" Maps page
OA = OS 25-inch County Series map (25.344":1 mile / 1:2500 / 1cm:25m), or OS National Grid 1:2500 Plans,  
  or sundry other OS maps at various scales for Alde Valley place/neighbourhood ➡︎ ➡︎ Odplaneig, where ...
OB and OC = do. for 1974-2019 Districts: respectively Babergh and Suffolk Coastal (but outside the Alde Valley) ➡︎ d = District A/B/C/E/F/M or W
ODEDH = do. for Dedham (Essex) ➡︎ format "ODEDHneig" for two National Grid Plans, filed with Babergh (OB)      ]| ⬇︎ ⬆︎
OE and OF = do. for 1974-2019 Districts: St Edmundsbury and Forest Heath merged into W.Suffolk District, filed tog➡︎ place-name (e.g. Leiston➡︎LEI)
OIPppneig = do. for IPswich Borough (where "IPp p" is the first four characters of postcode, then neighbourhood)  ]| ⬇︎ ⬆︎
  Click here for a zoomable map of Ipswich postcode areas IP1 to IP4. ⬇︎ ⬆︎
OM and OW = do. for 1974-2019 Districts: respectively Mid Suffolk and Waveney ➡︎ _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _  _➡︎ neigh'hood (e.g.CHURch), rest
  \ of placename (e.g. STON), etc.
PD = "Photo-collection Deposit" of 1200 digital images, explained on its own webpage.
PHO = digital scans of photos, postcards & similar, incl. books and collections mainly of old photos (exc. PD and LGS/Leiston Grammar School above)
PR = Parish Register/Records (mainly baptisms, marriages & burials, and can include local gossip too!), but for Westleton use "WSuuuuuuu" below
PSIAHyyyy = "Proceedings of the Suffolk Institute of Archaeology and History" annual journal for year yyyy
SKREVWyyp = Ł Suffolk Local History Council's (SLHC) ½-yearly "Suffolk Review", dated month yyp [indiv. issues aren't indexed, but interesting articles are]
SKROOTyyp = Suffolk Family History Society's quarterly "Suffolk Roots" for yyp — as it's a FH mag, individual issues are indexed; also interesting articles
SLHCNLyyp = Ł Suffolk Local History Council's (SLHC) half-yearly Newsletter, dated for month yyp [indiv. issues aren't indexed, but interesting articles are]
WSuuuuuuu = Westleton Parish Register/BMD  
(null) Element 1 can be omitted if none of the Categories above are suitable — but maybe add a new one if need be?  

 


ELEMENT 1Y = Year

If the date of the resource is accurately known, and is particularly important to its understanding, include the year as "yyyy" at this point.  This often applies to several of the prefixes above, such as BMD data, CENsuses, DIRectories, IDX (Indexes) and MAPs — and usually just an Element 2 value below will then follow.  This Year-element only very rarely applies to PHOtos.  It NEVER applies to MIs (Monumental Inscriptions) or PR (Parish Registers/Records), because for them the place is always more important than the date.

 


ELEMENT 2 = Place ≡ Columns C and D (County and Parish), only if needed

☞  Simply glance through both Element-2 lists (or the Alde-Valley list), top to bottom, until a suitable match is found, adding new abbreviations as need be.
East Anglian locations are listed first below only because they relate to the vast majority of our resources.

In general, County abbreviations are two-character, whilst communities/locations/Parishes are three characters.

 

WITHIN THE HISTORIC KINGDOM OF EAST ANGLIA (or locality not relevant)
 

East Anglia is traditionally: east of the River Great Ouse (in Cambridgeshire/Norfolk) and north of the River Blackwater (in north-east Essex)
OR briefly: the whole of Suffolk and Norfolk, plus eastern Cambridgeshire and north-east Essex
OR approximately north-east of a line connecting Kings Lynn — Downham Market — Ely — Cambridge — M11 motorway —
Stansted — A120 road — Maldon.

— Where a local item has several lines (e.g. for Aldeburgh, Leiston and Saxmundham), an extra line is added for “Suffolk|Alde Valley”; then ref-ID includes “AV”.
— Similarly, where a multi-line item is for Suffolk AND Norfolk (and maybe other counties), add a line for County="East Anglia", and then ref-ID includes “EA”.  
— If an item relating to more than one county includes either Suffolk OR Norfolk (but not both), its reference-ID includes “SK” OR “NK”, but no "extra" line.  
☞ Essentially, we have an Alde Valley or Suffolk or Norfolk or East Anglia-centric view of the world(!), in that order — reflected in the first row ( "uu") below.

uu = unique-id part of “yyyyuu”: often AV/SK/NK/EA/... below (but may relate to important detail in Title, e.g. RC=Catholic, RN=Royal Navy)
SRO = not strictly a location, but might be part of prefix "IDXSRO" for former Suffolk Record Office (now Suffolk Archives) index-publications
(null) = locality not relevant: just skip to Element-3 below
   
  BL = Blythburgh  OR …
  BL   ⬅ click = Blything Hundred or Registration District or Union or Rural District:  MAP = https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20147
  link for map PLACES = https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Hundreds/BlythingHundred 
   
  PL   ⬅ click Plomesgate Hundred or Registration District or Union or Rural District:  MAPhttps://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/20060
link for map PLACES = https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/SFK/Hundreds/PlomesgateHundred
   
AV = Alde Valley (or broadly coinciding with it) including Plomesgate Hundred/etc above
jump to ?     Index abbreviations for Alde Valley communities — Every AV place-name is listed on the Maps page.
   
ES = East Suffolk County Council, 1888 to 1974 (The area it covered is explained on our «Maps» page — much larger than
          the "District" administered by East Suffolk Council, established in 2019)
   
BXF = Boxford [between Hadleigh and Sudbury]: deliberately not "BOX", which ambiguously suggests a container!
BSE = Bury St Edmunds
CRAT = Cratfield [between Halesworth and Laxfield] — BUT "CRA" is "our" Cransford, near Framlingham
DB = Debenham
DEDH = Dedham (N.E. Essex)
FX = Felixstowe 
IPS/IP/OIPpp = Ipswich  [To determine the postcode for an OIPppneig OS 25" map or similar, visit the Royal Mail Postcode Finder]
  Click here for a zoomable map of Ipswich postcode areas IP1 to IP4.
LOW or LT = Lowestoft  [LTfishing-boat registration-letters, as allocated to many ports/coastal towns in the British Isles, Channel Isles and IOM]
MRM = Martlesham (except the airfield: see below) — This is to avoid a potential clash with "MAR" = Marlesford.
     MHA = Martlesham Heath airfield (1917: RFC; 1918: RAF; 1943: USAAF; 1958-61: Battle of Britain Memorial Flight; 1963: closed)
PDMHAIRFu = Martlesham Heath airifeld photos in Photos Deposit collection (its only images from outside the Alde Valley)
NWM or NWMK or NWMKT = Newmarket
SWOLD or SW = Southwold ["SW" can also mean south-west]
WM = Wickham Market WBW  = Walberswick  
WB = Woodbridge WLD  = Waldringfield
WV = Waveney District (1974-2019) and/or similar area
   
MI/PR locatio    = [often first seven characters of a] Suffolk location of an MI / monumental-inscription OR PR / Parish-Register resource,  otherwise … 
loc [=1st 3ch] = Suffolk location: If a 3-character abbreviation for a location outside the Alde Valley might clash with one inside the valley, then …
visit https://heritage.suffolk.gov.uk/ > "Search the Records" > "Enter search text" to ascertain the location's "Monument record" 3-char prefix, if okay.
   
WS = West Suffolk County Council, 1889 to 1974 (The area it covered is explained on our «Maps» page — much larger than
          the "District" administered by West Suffolk Council, established in 2019)   ["WS" is also our abbreviation for Westleton]
   
SK = Suffolk (and perhaps other counties, but not Norfolk): Click here for an outline map of the (almost countywide) IP postcode area.
NR = Norwich
NKloc = Norfolk town/village [where "loc" is usu. placename's 1st 3 chars; Norfolk Heritage Explorer doesn't use location prefixes like Suffolk do]
NK = Norfolk (and perhaps other counties, typically Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire, but NOT Suffolk)
EA = East Anglia (= Suffolk AND Norfolk, and perhaps other counties)
CAM or CB = Cambs. = Cambridgeshire &/or Cambridge [N.B. Campsea Ashe is "CAA", a Heritage Suffolk abbreviation.] This entry repeated below.
COL = Colchester (N.E. Essex)

 

OUTSIDE EAST ANGLIA including abroad

  Outside E.Anglia, only a VERY few of the largest places (plus some in  Essex  & Yorkshire) are individually referenced in their Ref-ID.
Instead their "historic county" is usually used, which applies particularly to places now in the  West Midlands  and  East Midlands .
  For Yorkshire (exc. Bradford/BD, Bingley/BG, Hull/HU, Sheffield/SH, York/YO), use "YS" or historic Riding (EY / NY / WY) below.
  Any two-letter abbrevations usually are an unambiguous contraction of the Chapman code and/or are a county town's postcode.
The «County» column is maximum of 10-13 char, so some names have to be abbreviated, and are shown below in bold in quotes,
some suffixed with a full stop, some not (as per "The New Oxford Dictionary")
: 'errors' will only cause them to be slightly missorted.
A genuine county-name can be in the UK or in Ireland, but not all such counties are (yet) listed below, though most in England are.
     
ESSEX    
SFW = Saffron Walden (Essex) SOS = Southend-on-Sea (Essex)
ESX/EX = Essex [should really be “ESS”, but "ESX" is unlikely to be confused with "East Sussex", for which we probably won't ever have anything!]
CEN51X = 1851 Census Index data for Essex on "fiche MIEX"
   
WEST MIDLANDS = the area around Birmingham   [DON'T use "WM" as an abbreviation, as it is reserved for Wickham Market]
The West Midlands is surrounded by the contiguous counties of Staffordshire, Warwickshire/Warwicks. and Worcestershire/Worcs. —
from all three of which it acquired areas in 1974.  Broadly, by reference to Wikipedia, those "historic counties" included the (now W.Midlands) places:
Staffordshire = ST:          Walsall, West Bromwich and Wolverhampton
Warwicks. = WK / WWK:  Birmingham [but see BM/BIR below], Coventry, Meriden, Solihull and Sutton Coldfield
Worcs. = WR / WOR:   Dudley (exclave), Halesowen and Stourbridge
   
YORKSHIRE    
BD = Bradford (Yorks WR) BG = Bingley (Yorks WR)
HU = (Kingston-upon-) Hull (Yorks ER)    
SH = Sheffield (Yorks WR) now S.Yorks  (Reserved by us, as Sheffield's postcode is just letter "S", though we DO also use "SH" for Shropshire)
YO / YOR =  York (city) YK — DON'T USE: prob s/be YO or YS
YS / YKS =   Yorkshire only if countywide, otherwise use the relevant (historic) Riding as below — refer to Google or Wikipedia if need be.
EY / ERY = "Yorks ER"   = East Riding of Yorkshire (or sometimes "East Yorkshire", but visit Wikipedia here for an explanation of the subtleties!)
NY / NRY = "Yorks NR"  = North Riding of Yorkshire    
WY / WRY = "Yorks WR" = West Riding of Yorkshire    
   
BF or BDF = "Beds." = Bedfordshire    
BK or BKM = "Bucks" = Buckinghamshire    
BM or BIR = Birmingham — but note that its historic County is "Warwicks.", although nowadays it is in the metropolitan county of the West Midlands.
BR = Berkshire ["BR" is really the modern postcode for Bromley in Kent]    
BST or BS = Bristol — In 1373 "it became a County in itself" (Wikipedia)   BW = Breconshire/Brecknockshire (Wales)
CAM or CB = "Cambs." = Cambridgeshire &/or Cambridge [N.B. Campsea Ashe is "CAA", a Heritage Suffolk abbreviation.] This entry repeated above.
CF or CRF = Cardiff     CW = "Caerns."=Caernarfonshire (Wales)
CH or CHE = Cheshire and Chester
CI or CHI = "Channel Is." = Channel Islands: Jersey and the Bailiwick of Guernsey (like the Isle of Man) are Crown Dependancies, not part of UK.
CN or CON = Cornwall
CM  / CMA = Cumberland/Cumbria ["CM" is really Chelmsford's postcode]
DE = Derby/Derbyshire   DW = Denbighshire (Wales)
DV or DEV = Devon (archaically: Devonshire)
DR or DOR = Dorset (archaically: Dorsetshire) DH or DUR = "Durham Co." &/or City of Durham
GM            = "Glam."    = Glamorgan(shire) — or use " CF " if relevant to Cardiff       
GL = "Glos."     = Gloucestershire and/or Gloucester GW = Glasgow
HEF or HF = "Herefs." = Herefordshire HM or HAM = Hampshire / Hants
HRT or HT = "Herts."   = Hertfordshire
   
      For these EAST MIDLANDS towns and counties, index them under their "historic counties", highlighted in bold.
HN = "Hunts." =Huntingdonshire: hist'c county till 1965; '65-74 in H&P⬇︎; '74-84 Huntingdon Dist. in Cambs., then name reverted to H'shire!
H&P = Huntingdon and Peterborough (1965-1974) — town and city, respectively indexed under their historic counties of Hunts. and Northants
PE = The Soke of Peterborough was part of Northamptonshire/Northants until 1965; since 1974 it has been within Cambridgeshire/Cambs.
  [We also use "PE" as an abbreviation for Peasenhall]
 
KT or KEN = Kent LA or LAN = Lancashire / Lancs. / Lancaster
LC = "Leics." = Leicestershire and/or Leicester  [abbreviation chosen so as not to clash with LEiston]
LN = "Lincs." = Lincolnshire and/or Lincoln
LON or LO = London — but best to relate to particular County: Herts./HT,  Bucks/BK,  Berkshire/BR,  Middlesex  ,  Surrey/SR,  Kent/KT,   Essex/EX  
LV = Liverpool xxxxxxxx MX or MDX =  Middlesex: click here for 1769 map 
MCR / MC = Manchester [commonly abbreviated to M'cr, or (as for Manchester City) "MC"] — but note that its historic County is Lancashire
NBL or NB = "Northumb." = Northumberland   MW             = "Mon." = Monmouthshire (Wales)
NE or NET = "Newcastle" = Newcastle upon Tyne "in 1400 … separated from Northumberland … made a county of itself by Henry IV" — Wikipedia
NG = "Notts."         = Nottinghamshire and/or Nottingham OX or OXF = Oxfordshire (=Oxon.) &/or Oxford
NN = "Northants" = Northamptonshire and/or Northampton RU or RUT = Rutland
SHR or SH = Shropshire / Salop  (ignoring co. town Shrewsbury's unhelpful postcode "SY"; but we also reserve "SH" for Sheffield, tho' so far unused)
SOM / SM = Somerset (archaically: Somersetshire) — ("SM" really Sutton&Morden postcode)     
ST = Staffordshire  ("ST" is actually the postcode for Stoke-on-Trent, which fortunately is in the same county as Stafford!)
SRY or SR = Surrey  ("SR" really Sunderland postcode)
SX or SSX = Sussex  (We most often use "SX" as an abbreviation for Saxmundham)
WL or WIL = Wiltshire  (We also use "WL" as an abbreviation for Wales) 
     
WK / WWK = "Warwicks." = Warwick(shire)  (ISO/Chapman "WAR" risks mismatches in "war"-related Searches; ignore usual CV Coventry postcode)
WR / WOR = "Worcs." = Worcestershire and/or Worcester
   
co/cou = UK county — most English counties (at least) are already listed above, but use most obvious first two/three letters, or postcode-prefix,
          or visit http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/Regions/Codes —or— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-2:GB
   
pa = Rarely: UK large town or city:  Use the related postcode-area prefix, for example "CB" for Cambridge.  Try to avoid unnecessary clashes!
         Note that all cities with one-character prefixes (Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Sheffield) are already listed above
   
ENG or EN = England
WLS / WL  = Wales     (We also use "WL" as an abbreviation for Wiltshire)
EW = "Eng&Wales" = England & Wales — they were united under the Crown in 1284, so follow a single legal system, known as "English Law".
SCO = Scotland  [N.B. This differs from the ISO-3166-2 code and Chapman code for Scotland, both of which are "SCT".]
GB = "Great Britain" = England, Wales and Scotland (including its islands) but excluding Northern Ireland — compare "British Isles" below.
NI or NIR = "N.Ireland" = Northern Ireland
UK = United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
IRL or IE = Ireland (Republic [= ROI] or whole island, e.g. pre-1922)
IOM or IM = Isle of Man (a Crown dependency and, just like the various Channel Islands above, not part of the UK)
IOW or IW = Isle of Wight (until 1890 in Hampshire, then separate administratively but only a full "ceremonial county" since 1974    Wikipedia §9.2)
   
BRI or BI = British Isles (geographically, UK plus the Republic of Ireland): an apolitical alternative term is These Islands see here for example;
                      ALSO pre-1922 they were officially called "(The United Kingdom of) Great Britian and Ireland" (so typically in Gazetteers).
  ☞ A rarely used British legal term is the "British Islands", meaning UK, Channel Islands & IOM collectively (but NOT Republic of Ireland).
   
AU or AUS = Australia
IN = India or (British) Indian Army 
cc OR ccc for extra country-codes, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_3166-1#Officially_assigned_code_elements ➡︎ use Alpha-2 or -3 as req'd

 

ELEMENT 3 =  Subject and/or unique detail, related to Title/Column E

catyyyyuu ... preceded by any of the categories BMD (e.g. BMDyyyyuu) , CENsus, DIRectory, IDX (index) or MAP: date and then "uu"nique-id
         (e.g. all three index-lines for "1851 British Census (Norfolk, Warwick, Devon)"  ➡︎ "CEN 1851 NK", as Norfolk is most relevant to us)
     
yypyyyyuu = "Family Tree" mag-CD (main Census feature's "CEN" replaced by issue-date yyp, e.g."Apr.2011: 1851 Berkshire" > "114 1851 BR")
         This convention means that magazine-CDs don't have sticky labels, but can be found by using the date printed directly onto them.
         The Ref-ID's first two digits (within "yyp") are the issue-year, so identify the relevant CD-wallet a particular CD is filed in.
         The Ref-ID's third character is the issue-month/period — 1 to 9, U, V, W , X orsee Element 4 below.
     
CENyyuuuu   A very limited number of Census microfiches have highly-structured reference-ID's as follows (this list may need adding to) ...
fiche variants for   "Suffolk 1851 Census [by Registration] District"      ➡︎ "CEN 51 ddd p", where "ddd" = district, "p" = part = sub-Volume;
    OR for   "1851 Index for EsseX: location [prod./published by] Essex Society for Family History"  ➡︎ "CEN 51 X loc" [in MIEX box];
    OR for   "1881 Census SuffolkBirthplace index fiche ..." ➡︎ "CEN 81 SK B ℹ︎", where "ℹ︎" is usually initial letter of first surname;
    OR for   "1881 Census SuffolkSurname index fiche ..."   ➡︎ "CEN 81 SK S ℹ︎",                               ditto                            )  
    Note: The Suffolk fiches don't have sticky labels, but are filed in the blue plastic fiche-box in order of their printed (not Index) titles.
   
LCMPAN49f = Leiston County Modern School panoramic photo scans for 1949, where the "f" = "p" or "q" as per the LGSPAN convention below.
     
LGSCuuuuu = Leiston Grammar Sch CD-master, where "uuuuu"=free-format unique chars on CD-surface: indiv digital files usu indexed elsewhere
     
LGSFyyuuu = LGS/Leiston Grammar School Form photos, where "yy" is 19yy year; "uuu" usu. underscore + two-char Form/class (incl. "α"/alpha)
[was LGSFRMyyr] [was "r" = "A" for main photograph, or "B" for photo with names, or otherwise a random serial-letter — see NL57 p5 for a full list.]
     
LGSLxyyzz = Leiston Grammar School Lever-arch file of photos or scans from the period "yyzz", covering the years 19yy to 19zz, and …
  | where "Lx" = "LH" = Hockey (Girls) original photographs
  |     "LP" = Panoramic (digital-scan fragments individually suffixed a/b/c/d/e as below, but excluded from the Index)
  |     "LS" = Sports teams (digital scans individually referenced just like "LGSyy-yzs"/etc below, but excluded from the Index)
  | Note:   The printed photographs aren't individually catalogued, but any digital copies made (prefixed LGSPANLGSyy, etc.) are.
     
LGSMAGyyF= Leiston Grammar School "Leistonian" Magazine for year 19yy: digital folder containing page-images
     
LGSPANyyf = Leiston Grammar School panoramic photo scans — "yy" = year;
  |        "f" =  fragment "a" to "d" of four-fragment (left-to-right) scan of photo; or "a" to "e" of a five-fragment scan;
  | or detail of just "f"emale or "m"ale staff; "s" (reserved for) staff of both sexes photographed together(!);
  | or (if annotated with names) detail of just "F"emale or "M"ale staff; "S" (reserved for) staff of both sexes;
  | or "p" for a 'restitching' of the original panorama (size ≈70MB) from the four/five fragments
  | and "q" an emailable compressed copy of the restitch (size ≈6MB).
  | Once a panorama has been restitched, the fragments aren't listed individually in the Index, only the "p" and "q" versions —
  | but the a/b/c/d/e fragments remain available digitally on our Help Centre computers, some prints also in folders as mentioned above.
  | Many of the original photos were kindly lent by a Member and Alumnus for us to copy; several now at Suffolk Archives' The Hold.
     
LGSPROyyF= Leiston Grammar School Prospectus for year 19yy: digital Folder containing page-images
     
LGSRECyyF= Leiston Grammar School Annual Records for year 19yy: digital Folder containing page-images
     
LGSSPDyyF= Leiston Grammar School Speech Day for year 19yy: digital Folder containing page-images
     
LGSSPTyyF= Leiston Grammar School Sports Day for year 19yy: digital Folder containing page-images
     
LGSSTFyyr = Leiston Grammar School Staff photo scans, where "yy" is a 19yy year and "r" is a random serial-letter — see NL57 p6 for a full list.
     
LGSTAFFyy = Leiston Grammar School staff list for year 19yy  [N.B. Category=Index: names scanned (e.g.) from school mag, NOT staff photo]
     
LGSyy-yzs = LGS sports-team photos — formats vary slightly, but indicate school-year and "s"=sport — usually allocated by LGS@avsfhg.org.uk
OR variants |         Sixth character is a separator: usually a hyphen «-», or rarely a slash «/» (replaced by apostrophe «'» in computer filenames).
(BUT MUST |         Variants include "LGSyy-zax", where seventh character "z" = final digit of the end-year (including say "59-0" for 1959/60);
BE NINE |               then optional "M"/"B" for "male"/"boys";  then always the sport (typically "H" for "hockey") as 8th and/or 9th character;
CHAR- |               then optional "N" for players' names (maybe annotated photo] or …
ACTERS!) |               often not listed in the Index are optional suffixes "O" for names-only (from the back of a related photo)
  |                     or "X" (without names: maybe before Alumni had suggested names) held in a "duplicates-etc" archive folder.
  |               This ensures that computer-filenames for a particular start-year LGSyy are listed close together, tho' maybe in a strange order.
  | The original team photos have been deposited with Suffolk Record Office / Suffolk Archives.
     
LGScuuuuu = Leiston Grammar School: other memorabilia, such as LGSM ("The Leistonian" magazine) and LGSR ("Record" magazine), etc.
  |        The 4th letter "c" categorises item, so letters "C" "F" "L" "M" "P" "R" "S" and (in "LGSTAFF") "T" are already allocated above.
     
... WWI  (characters 7-9) = Great War resource (esp. if Category isn't "History WWI"); may need to abbreviate Element 2 to accommodate this.

 


ELEMENT 4 = issue-date (only used for magazine-related items, or "yyF" for LGS)

This is used for either Suffolk-based magazines (as shown in the Title/Column E) — or as the first-element prefix for items on "Family Tree" magazine-CD's.
The table below MAY look complex, but simply offers a unique option for every period of 1, 2 and 3 months (or season) for which magazines are published.
"Family Tree" magazine CD's always have a Media/Col.F of  "CD FT", or (if dated March 2008 or later)  "CD FT " (which latter are Apple Mac-compatible).

For a "Suffolk Roots" magazine's own index-line, Category/Col.B is always "Fam-History"; whilst the Media/Col.F value is always «mag» or «mag A5».

yyp = issue year/period, where "period" is one of the following series of one, two or three months ...
yy1 = "New Year"
yy1 to yy9 = January to September: if for two months (e.g. "June/July"), take the earlier ("yy6").  So September/October together is "yy9".
yyA = Quarter 1 (January to March)  
yyB = Quarter 2 (April to June)  
yyC = Quarter 3 (July to September)  
yyD = Quarter 4 (October to December)   ⬇︎"meteorological seasons"⬇︎
yyE = Easter/Spring   or February, March and April or March, April and May
yyF  within LGSxxxyyF = LGS: digital Folder of page-images (xxx = MAG/PRO/REC/SPD/SPT — see Element 3
yyS = Summer or May, June and July or June, July and August
yyU = Autumn/October or August, September and October or September to November
yyV = November [e.g. November 1997 as in example below ➡︎ "97V"] or October/November or November/December
yyW = Winter [for example, Winter 2015/16 ➡︎ "15W"] or December or November to January or December to February
yyX = Xmas/Christmas or December and January of next year (i.e. Christmas/New Year)
yyY = Year-dated (maybe annual) item, but without any month or season mentioned  

 

Any locally interesting article in a Suffolk-titled magazine should have its own entry, with the same Ref-ID as the issue in which it appears, in a format similar to the following, and with a suitable "Category" relevant to the subject matter (such as "Family Hist" or "History WWI", or simply "History") — e.g. —

LN0954 | Fam-History | Suffolk | Sudbourne | Emigration of Scottish Farmers to E.Anglia late C19th [Black & Aldrich families], p158 | mag A5 | SKROOT97V

This entry informs us that on page 158 of the November 1997 issue of "Suffolk Roots" is an article mentioning two particular Sudbourne families.  Incidentally, there are further Index entries for this same resource for the Suffolk communities of Brampton Old Hall, Darsham and Sibton, as well as for Lanarkshire and for West Lothian's Livingston: Newyearfield — all of which places appear in the article, and where they lived and farmed at various times.

For other good examples, see the Index entries for Iken village and Saxmundham.