Researcher's Guide

How to find your image?

The Search function on the front page is a keyword search that will search every field in an item record, including title, description, artist, or image reference. If you click the Search button, it will take you to a page of all the images in the collection, and you can start your search there by using the filters described below.

Results display:

The search will automatically prioritise results that include all search terms. A phrase search using inverted commas around your terms, e.g. “Cross Bath”, will prioritise results with that phrase then show results with both words in the same field, then results showing both words anywhere in the record.

On the results page you will be able to add other search filters to help narrow your results, any of these can be hidden by clicking the ‘–‘ sign next to the title:

• Keywords - add to your existing keyword search or start a new one
• Artist or photographer – this field includes the names of engravers & lithographers and some printers. It will autocomplete options as you type though you can also use the keyword search if the name is not listed here.
• Image reference – this is the unique Bath in Time reference number. Even if you only know the first few numbers, this may help your search
• Collections – the name of a specific collection, or a type of source material. A drop-down box for you to choose the collection of interest
• Images of Bath reference – this is the reference number used in James Lees-Milne & David Ford’s book, ‘Images of Bath’, and relates only to prints of the city.
• Library Reference – this is the internal reference used to locate the original image. It can also be used to group together images from the same source, e.g. the Hunt scrapbooks or the Coard drawings collection if you have a reference to work from.
• Medium – a drop-down list of formats of the original images. NB, the term Lantern Slide includes all glass slides, glass negatives, lantern slides and other photographs produced on glass. The errors and multiples in this field will be corrected with future updates.
• B&W or colour – an either/or choice, though the default is both
• Image Date – this can be filtered by date from or date to. To create a range of dates, use both filters with a start (date from) and end (date to) date in the two boxes. Some images are dated by decade, e.g. 1920s, and you can also use this as a search term if you don’t have a precise date.

At any point, you can remove a filter by clicking ‘remove’ next to the term in the box at the top of the list of filters. You can clear your entire search by clicking ‘Clear All’ in the same box.

If your search was not successful, please check:

• Your spelling, we all make mistakes and typos
• Alternate spellings for locations, e.g. Foxhill instead of Fox Hill
• Other terms for the same thing, e.g. school or college
• Different uses for the same location, as building often change uses through time, e.g. hotel, school, house, mansion

Lightbox

When undertaking an extensive search, it can be useful to keep a note of images that are of interest to you. There is a lightbox facility available to customers who have created an account on the website. A button will appear at the bottom of the image description when you are logged in to your account – it will invite you to log in or register if you have not already done so. If the image is already in your lightbox, it will tell you here. You can delete items from your lightbox.