7th edition With 5 million people in Scotland, and over 30 million of Scottish descent scattered over the globe, it is not surprising that research into Scottish family history is so popular - especially now that huge amounts of information on family origins are available online. If you are one of those whose roots lie in Scotland, this major new edition of the 'Official Guide' is the one book you must have. Scotland has one of the best-maintained facilities of any country in the world for undertaking family research. In a major new development the National Archives of Scotland in Edinburgh has merged in 2011 with the Registrar General's office, bringing a vast collection of documents together under one roof in the National Records of Scotland. This new edition of the Official Guide, first published back in 1990, explains how to find your way around this huge archive. With the expansion of the ScotlandsPeople online resource, the materials for ancestry research are at your fingertips no matter where you are in the world. Prepared by the keepers of the records themselves, this official handbook is written in a friendly and accessible style for the family researcher. Major new online resources are extensively covered. Now, whether in person or through the ScotlandsPeople site, you can find certificates of births, marriages and deaths, wills, church registers, taxation lists, censuses, military records and many more. Using this book, you can hold the pages of the past in your hand and shine a light on who your ancestors really were. Softcover, 272 pages, b&w photos, index. National Records of Scotland, 2020