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Search for a location, address etc.

The Lucerna database includes records for many types of location, for example:

  • individual addresses connected to organisations or people involved in making or using lanterns and slides
  • venues in which lantern events (lectures, shows, exhibitions etc.) took place
  • locations (nations, regions, cities and towns, historic buildings etc.) shown in slide images or referred to in related texts

Hints for successful searching

  • Lucerna contains records for a wide range of different locations, and some searches may find thousands of records. We suggest you familiarise yourself with how the search criteria work and plan your search before you start.
  • The more criteria you add to your search, the narrower it becomes, and the less likely it is to find results. It may be best to start with one or two criteria, then add more to narrow the search if it finds too many results to deal with.
  • If your search returns no results, check your search criteria – you may have mis-typed something or chosen an impossible combination.
  • For information about how to use the criteria click the adjacent  Example of button offering online help  button.
Enter your search criteria below and click one of the ‘Search’ buttons
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Search by type of location

This criterion will find locations of a chosen type.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any type’.

To simplify the process of cataloguing and searching, the ‘types’ of location used in Lucerna are quite general. This means that some of them may find thousands of results, so this criterion may give best results when used in conjunction with other search criteria.

The types of location as they appear in the drop-down list fall into four broad categories, in approximate descending order of size:

  • Large areas of the world – nations, or regions within nations (counties, states and other administrative divisions).
  • Settlements or other named locations within nations or regions – these obviously include cities, towns and villages, but also other named locations like rural areas (mountains, parkland, wilderness regions), inland waterways (rivers and canals), named areas of sea, and so on.
  • Places within settlements – these include named urban locations like suburbs, streets, squares, parks and similar identifiable places.
  • Individual buildings or other identifiable sites – these are categorised approximately by their function, for example religious premises, private residence, zoo, monument, transport premises, etc. The list is relatively detailed, reflecting the wide range of different locations recorded in Lucerna.
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Search by part of location name

This criterion will find all recorded locations whose name contains a given group of characters.

Type the text you want to find into the box. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box empty.

This criterion will search for your chosen text in the names of nations, counties/regions, cities/towns/settlements, suburbs, street names and building names. It is probably the most flexible location search available in Lucerna, but may also find unmanageable numbers of results.

Notes:

  • The search will find exactly the group of characters you enter, including any spaces or punctuation marks.
  • Keep your search text as short as you can – as you enter more, your search becomes more specific and you are less likely to find results.
  • Location names are mainly (but not always) recorded in the language used in that location. Where relevant, a search may give results with cross-links to alternative names for a location – for example, a search for ‘Cologne’ will cross-refer to Köln and a search for ‘Danzig’ will cross-refer to Gdansk.
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Search by building name

This criterion will find all locations whose address includes a specific building name.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any name’.

The list includes all types of building name, including country estates, administrative names indicating a building's function, names of pubs and other businesses, or names applied to houses by their owners.

In some cases the name of a building and the name of a business conducted there may be the same. If you are looking for a specific location in this way, you might also consider searching for an organisation of the same name.

Notes:

  • The drop-down list shows all the building names recorded in Lucerna. In some cases such as private residences, the building may also have been known by a street number, which may be recorded as well as or instead of the building name.
  • Although the list is arranged alphabetically, names starting with an article (‘The‘ etc.) are not separated into their component parts – so for example The Elms and The Hare and Hounds appear under T not E or H.
  • Names beginning with ‘Saint’ are generally abbreviated to ‘St’ and so appear alphabetised as ‘St’ not ‘Sa’.
  • For generic building names (for example Town Hall, The Vicarage, etc.) the search is likely to find many locations using that name in different cities and towns.
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Search by street name

This criterion will find all locations whose address includes a specific street name.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any street’.

The list includes all types of public thoroughfare, regardless of how they are named.

If you are not certain of the exact name of a street, it may be better to use the Part of location name criterion to search for a distinctive group of characters in the name.

Notes:

  • The drop-down list shows all the street names recorded in Lucerna, listed in the language mainly used in that location.
  • Although the list is arranged alphabetically, names starting with an article (‘The‘ etc.) are not separated into their component parts – so for example The Strand and The Common appear under T not S or C.
  • Similarly street names in French starting with ‘rue‘ appear together under R, though in alphabetical order of the second part of their name.
  • Names beginning with ‘Saint’ are generally abbreviated to ‘St’ and so appear alphabetised as ‘St’ not ‘Sa’.
  • For many common street names (for example High StreetNorth Street, etc.) the search is likely to find many locations using that name in different settlements.
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Search by area, suburb or district

This criterion will find all locations whose address includes the name of a section of a larger settlement.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any area’.

The data is not very consistent due to variations in the original sources used – a building address may be recorded differently in different accounts, or a street may run through more than one suburb. There are also often imprecise variations in area names themselves, as in the London suburbs Norwood, Upper Norwood, South Norwood, West Norwood and so on.

As cities have grown, many formerly independent communities have become absorbed as suburbs. If you know the location you are looking for, and don’t find it as an area or suburb, consider searching for it as a city or town instead (or use the Part of location name criterion).

Notes:

  • The drop-down list shows all the area names recorded in Lucerna, listed in the language mainly used in that location.
  • Names beginning with ‘Saint’ are generally abbreviated to ‘St’ and so appear alphabetised as ‘St’ not ‘Sa’.
  • If you choose an item from this drop-down list, you don’t need to also select from the City, town or other settlement criterion.
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Search by city, town or other settlement

This criterion will find all recorded locations within a chosen named settlement.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any town’.

The drop-down list shows all the settlements recorded in Lucerna – if a location is not listed here (but see the notes below) this usually means that no records of lantern activities have yet been recorded in that place.

The list includes cities, towns and villages, but to simplify cataloguing and searching it also includes other named locations (which may in fact not be inhabited) such as rural areas, mountains, lakes etc.

Notes:

  • The settlements are listed alphabetically, mostly using their names in the language mainly used in that location. Where relevant an alternative name in other languages or a historical name is also given, cross-linked to the main record to allow searching under either name.
  • In a few cases, accented characters in the settlement name disrupt the natural alphabetical sorting – for example Köln, Germany, appears out of sequence at the end of the ‘K’ section of the list because of its accented second character. We are aware of this problem and hope to fix it soon.
  • Some places that formerly existed as independent settlements have since been absorbed as suburbs of cities as they expanded. If you cannot find a place in the drop-down list, consider searching for it as an area or suburb, or use the Part of location name criterion.
  • Places that have the same name are shown separately, but with their county/state and nation to distinguish between them. Please make sure that you have chosen the right place from the list.
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Search by county, state or region

This criterion will find all recorded locations within a chosen administrative area.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any county’.

The drop-down list shows all the administrative areas recorded in Lucerna – if an area is not listed here (but see the notes below) this usually means that no records of lantern activities have yet been recorded in that place.

The areas recorded vary from nation to nation, depending on the national administrative structure. Counties are used for the nations of the British Isles; States for the U.S.A., Australia and Germany; Départements for France; Cantons for Switzerland; and so on.

Notes:

  • The areas are listed alphabetically, mostly using their names in the language mainly used in that location. In a few cases the English name or a historical name is also given, cross-linked to the main record to allow searching under either name.
  • In most cases (except for the British Isles), areas are listed here with their modern names and territories, which may or may not have applied at the time of any lantern-related activities.
  • The counties used for the British Isles are the historic counties as they existed before reorganisation in 1974, as these are most relevant to the period covered by lantern use.
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Search by nation

This criterion will find all recorded locations within a chosen nation.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any nation’.

The drop-down list shows all the nations recorded in Lucerna – if a nation is not listed here (but see the notes below) this usually means that no records of lantern activities have yet been recorded in that place.

For convenience the list also includes the names of continents and sea areas, where these have Lucerna records for some reason.

Notes:

  • In most cases, nations are listed here with their modern names and territories, which may or may not have applied at the time of any lantern-related activities – for example ‘Germany’ rather than ‘Prussia’ or ‘Bavaria’.
  • The countries of the British Isles are recorded individually (England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales) not as ‘U.K.’, and other semi-independent parts of the United Kingdom (e.g. Channel Islands) are treated as separate countries.
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Search by person associated with a location

This criterion will find all locations recorded as being associated with a specific person.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any person’.

The most common recorded connections between a person and location are that the person was resident there, was born there or died there.

People are listed alphabetically by surname, with first names and dates of birth and death (or a fl. date of known activity) to help distinguish between people of the same name.

Notes:

  • The drop-down list only shows those people already known to be connected to locations with Lucerna records.
  • In most cases the only record of a person’s connection to a location is from an archive source or a minor reference in a source like a newspaper item, and more details of their connection to that place may not be available.
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Search by organisation associated with a location

This criterion will find all locations recorded as being associated with a specific organisation.

Choose an item from the drop-down list. If you don’t want to apply this criterion, leave the box showing ‘any organisation’.

The most common recorded connection between an organisation and a location is as a business address, in various different forms.

Organisations are listed alphabetically by name, but see the notes below for details of the sorting order.

Notes:

  • The drop-down list only shows those organisations already known to be connected to locations with Lucerna records.
  • If the organisation’s name is based on a person’s name, the alphabetical sorting is on the basis of the surname – for example, ‘Alfred Bird & Sons’ is listed as ‘Bird & Sons, Alfred’.
  • Organisation names starting with an article are sorted alphabetically without the article – so for example ‘The Church Army’ is listed as ‘Church Army, The’.
  • In some cases the only record of an organisation’s connection to an event is from a minor reference in a source like an advertisement or newspaper item, and more details of its connection to the place may not be available.
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