If you're trying to find out more about local events, people or buildings there are many online resources worth exploring. Have a look at some of the sites listed.
A key resource for Family History researchers, GenUKi, has a really useful information page about Scarborough and you can follow links to other local areas (and anywhere else in the UK!)
The Yorkshire History Pages have lots of information about Scarborough and surrounding area.
North Yorkshire Libraries & Archives provides access to many local records. If you can visit, the Scarborough main library has plenty of information in its Local Studies Room; ask a librarian for assistance.
Scarborough Maritime Heritage Centre aims to preserve Scarborough’s maritime heritage qnd has some fascinating material.
If you appreciate Scarborough's buildings heritage, have a look at Scarborough Civic Society.
The history of St. Mary’s Church is inextricable from Scarborough's past.
Scarborough's main municipal cemetery was in Dean Road and Manor Road; there is a Friends group and many graves are listed on the Find a Grave site
The most ancient settlement in the area is Star Carr . This site describes the area they lived in, the Carrs Wetland and the project to preserve it.
The Society has close links with the Friends of Ayton Castle, their website can be found here.
Scarborough's museums have been redeveloped and have frequent exhibitions and events; look at the Scarborough museums Trust site for news and details at the Rotunda, Art Gallery and Woodend.
For those interested in postcards, George Webber has a web site on ETW Dennis of Scarborough , the earliest commercial picture card producer and Adrian Spawforth has an excellent site devoted to postcards of Scarborough
The East Yorkshire Family History Society has members and resources for Scarborough and surrounding area and holds regular meetings at venues across eastern Yorkshire. In addition the Society runs regular Help Desks and other events at libraries in the area and publishes an extensive range of material of interest to family and local historians.
Here are some possible sources of useful local information:
Whitby Archives Heritage Centre (not online but can be visited)
Yorkshire and Humberside newspapers;
The Borthwick Institute for Archives originally specialised in ecclesiastical archives, but the holdings now include collections of regional, national or international importance from Yorkshire.The York Archaeological Trust runs all the excavations in York and has a wealth of information about the North's greatest historical city.
Yorkshire Ancestors produce CDs of Parish Registers and other records; their products are now available at Genfair
The York Archaeological Trust runs all the excavations in York and has a wealth of information about the North's greatest historical city
The Yorkshire Archaeological Society covers the whole county.
The Roman Antiquities Section of the Yorkshire Archaeological Society have launched a new website
More archaeological finds information can be found in the Portable Antiquities Scheme records.
The Yorkshire Vernacular Buildings Study Group website has much information about Yorkshire architecture and an excellent page of links.
The County Record Office online shop where you can browse and buy from a fascinating selection of historic photographs and maps.
This includes the Unnetie Project, the collection of Bertram Unne's photographs of Yorkshire in the early to mid-twentieth century
An interesting site about all of Yorkshire is My Yorkshire - celebrating all that's best in God's Own County
Follow these links to look at some of the best museums in the area:
Down the coast are Filey and Hornsea; inland is Malton, the excellent Beck Isle Museum in Pickering; and the Ryedale Folk Museum in Hutton le Hole.
Further north, Whitby has two: the Whitby Museum and Captain Cook Museum.
The Southburn Archaeological Museum, located just outside Driffield, is a small museum that contains a comprehensive collection of artefacts found in Southburn and the surrounding area. The collection ranges from Neolithic hand axes and flint tools, through the Bronze and Iron Ages, to Roman and Medieval finds.
Archives and other sources
There are plenty of online information sources for the whole country. Try:
British History Online
British Library
Access To Archives Discovery (useful for Scarborough wills - use the advanced search facility to find them)
Historic England has many useful pages: for example: Guidance on caring for the heritage; for Listed Buildings, Scheduled monuments, Historic Parks & gardens the National Heritage list for England
For old maps National Library of Scotland is by far the best old maps resource with very good quality scans of historic OS maps.Use their search page
A great resource for research is Historic England's PastScape. This allows you search 420,000 records held in the National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE) which provides information on archaeological, architectural and maritime sites. A great way to search is to click on a location on a map and ask for all records with a certain distance of the clicked location.
Other sites to try are:
Heritage Gateway
Historical directories
Internet Library of Early Journals
National Archives
Ordnance Survey (Historical and modern maps)
Trade Directories in Northern Libraries
Some useful book publishers are:
Victoria County History, "the authentic history of English places and their people, written county by county from original documents". and
Phillimore, "the leading specialist publisher of British local and family history"
Current Archaeology publishes several archaeology magazines.
There are plenty of general and focussed sites; these are some helpful articles that have been recommended by colleagues
Top 100 Genealogy Sites is a survey of the sites people really use.
There are several "beginners' sites" that provide guides and useful tips; many are US-based, but are still relevant to UK research. For example:
A Beginner's Guide to Starting a Family Tree Online
History at home genealogy guide
Ultimate Beginners Guide to Genealogy
How to Travel to Find Your Roots; exploring Europe to seek your relatives Genealogy and the Law explains some of the legalities of family research
Billiongraves brings together records of graves from many cemeteries in UK and worldwide
Resources for Military Families helps you locate the right military records at findmypast.com
Military Indexes links to war records from many times and countries