The East Lothian Local History Centre is based in Haddington but holds records relating to the whole of East Lothian - from Dirleton to Whittingehame, from Musselburgh to Oldhamstocks. Whether you're doing family history research, writing a local history book or want to find out who once lived in your house, this should be the first place you visit.

Current holdings include the following:

Old Parish Registers (c1600-c1855) - until 1855 many people registered births, marriages and deaths with their local Church of Scotland. The minister would record it in the Parish Register. The Centre holds the registers (now known as the Old Parish Registers) for the East Lothian region, including Inveresk (which was in Midlothian until 1974), on microfilm – better still it has the births and marriages indexed to speed up searching. Please be aware that the records for all parishes do not go back to c1600, and there may also be gaps.

Censuses (1841-1901) - in 1841 the government undertook the first official census and in the process created a wealth of information for those doing family research. The latest census held by the Centre is 1901. To help speed up searches, 1851 and 1881 are on CD-Rom whilst 1891 is indexed. 1841 has a partial index.

Valuation Rolls (1855-1989) - each year valuations of every property in each burgh and county in Scotland were taken. Researchers can use this resource, which the Centre holds on microfilm, to track their family between censuses or to find out who once lived in their house.

Register of Sasines (1781-1947) - those wishing to find out about housing before this date, or to find more detailed information after it, might find it in the Register of Sasines. This document records the transfer of ownership (usually a sale or an inheritance) of a piece of land or building. It will normally detail the names of the new and previous owners and will give a basic description of the property transferred. There will usually be an indication of the price paid for the property. The Register is partially indexed by both name and place.

Taxes - by the 1690s the government needed to raise money to repay loans and maintain the army. It introduced a tax of 14 shillings on every hearth in Scotland. Each hearth owner is listed in an extensive survey which is transcribed and indexed. Other taxes occasionally appear that allow us a snapshot of life before the census. The short-lived Farm Horse Tax, for example, collected in 1797, provides us with an invaluable list of tenant farmers who owned horses at this time.

The Centre also holds a number of other important resources, including some more obscure records, books and almanacs, newspapers and scrapbooks, photographs and postcards and maps.

See also East Lothian Archives and Records Management Unit.