How do you store your research material? If your interest in the period extends to accumulating large quantities of notes, cuttings, magazine articles etc., then sooner or later you will have the problem of not only storing them, but retrieving the document that you want at any particular moment.

Documents can be stored in card folders, with a brief index kept of their contents. If you have a computer, you may already have devised a simple index system that allows you to search out that all important article or set of notes. However, if you would like a ready-to-use system, then the following software package will be of interest to you. Not only will it help catalogue and retrieve items from your library, thus speeding up your research activities (and making it easier for you to write articles for The Age of Napoleon!), but it will also provide a useful list of items in your collection if planning to insure such.

The Wargame Scene is run by Gordon Smith, who is producing a range of computer software of use to wargamers and h1storians. One disc that readers of this magazine will find of interest is the Personal Book Library System for MSDOS. This system has been designed to catalogue and index books, magazine articles, personal research notes, photographs and other documents in any library. Once these items are indexed, the user can search the library system for a particular subject. The user is advised of the search results, which will point to specific books or magazine articles by a unique library reference number. The user can then extract those particular books or magazines from the library for reference.

The system comes complete with a very detailed instruction book on how to load and use the programme. My knowledge of computers extends only to using them as word processors, anything beyond this is a mystery to me. However, I found the Personal Book Library System very easy to operate.

Book information is entered under the fields: Title, Author, Publisher, Date Published, ISBN, Category, Edition and Notes. There is a comprehensive search facility on the programme, with a 'Goto' menu option to find a specific record. Another very useful menu option is " Notes', which allows 2,000 characters to be entered in the notepad, and can be used to store information such as a description of subject matter covered, summary of main items, keywords; and forms an important part of the system. There is a facility to cut, copy and paste text from one area in the notepad to another.

I have applied this system to a small part of my library, and found it to be a very useful tool in cataloguing publications. It can also be used in the same way for storing information on magazines, manuscripts, photographs, drawings and maps, and crossreferencing them all. Avery useful tool for any serious researcher. The cost is £ 14 plus postage and packing, and is available from The Wargames Scene, 23 Norfolk Road, Burleigh Hill, St. Ives, Cambs. PE17 6DP; or telephone 0480 465954. Mr Smith also produces an English Civil War Reference Library System, for which he is currently developing an Army Generator and Computer-Ass1sted Wargames Rules.

The Dusty Archive

Introduction
Public Records Office
National Art Library
Musee de l'Armee, Paris
Future Museum Reports and Conference
Books
Memorials
Napoleonic Old Wives' Takes