The Buckinghamshire Family History Society (often shortened to Bucks FHS) is a charitable

Charitable organization

A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 family history society

Family History Society

A family history society is a society, often charitable or not-for-profit, that allows member genealogists and family historians to profit from shared knowledge. Large societies often own libraries, sponsor research seminars and foreign trips, and publish journals...

 that covers the ceremonial county of Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire

Buckinghamshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan home county in South East England. The county town is Aylesbury, the largest town in the ceremonial county is Milton Keynes and largest town in the non-metropolitan county is High Wycombe....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The society was created in 1976.

The objectives of the Society are:

• To promote and encourage the public study of family history, genealogy, heraldry, local history, and other associated subjects with particular reference to the County of Buckingham.
• To promote the preservation, security and accessibility of archival material.
• To promote and engage in educational activities including the publication and sale of a regular journal and other appropriate material.

The society has just under 2,000 members worldwide and produces a quarterly journal called Origins. It also compiles databases that assist with tracing genealogy

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families and the tracing of their lineages and history. Genealogists use oral traditions, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members...

 in Bucks. A transcription of pre 1837 marriage

Marriage

Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

s is complete and a project to transcribe all parish register

Parish register

A parish register is a handwritten volume, normally kept in a parish church or deposited within a county record office or alternative archive repository, in which details of baptisms, marriages and burials are recorded.-History:...

s to 1901 is well underway. This transcription will include surviving baptism

Baptism

In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...

s, marriages and burial

Burial

Burial is the act of placing a person or object into the ground. This is accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing an object in it, and covering it over.-History:...

s. The Society has completed a transcription of the 1851 Census and maintains an index of Buckinghamshire people and an index of wills

Will (law)

A will or testament is a legal declaration by which a person, the testator, names one or more persons to manage his/her estate and provides for the transfer of his/her property at death...

. Contents of these databases are available for searching and many have been published either in printed media or on CD. In 2006 a new project started to digitise School Record Books.

Local members of the society meet every month in three locations across the county, in Bletchley, in Aylesbury

Aylesbury

Aylesbury is the county town of Buckinghamshire in South East England. However the town also falls into a geographical region known as the South Midlands an area that ecompasses the north of the South East, and the southern extremities of the East Midlands...

 and in Bourne End

Bourne End, Buckinghamshire

Bourne End is a village predominantly in the parish of Wooburn and Bourne End, but also in the parish of Little Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, England. It is situated close to the border with Berkshire, near where the River Wye meets the River Thames...

.

Bucks FHS is a member of the Federation of Family History Societies

Federation of Family History Societies

The Federation of Family History Societies is a United Kingdom-based charitable organisation.Its stated principal aims are "to co-ordinate and assist the work of societies or other bodies interested in family history, genealogy and heraldry; to foster the spirit of mutual co-operation, by...

.