Family history book: a 40-page template, UK records, honest labelling and photographs

What goes in a family history book?

A family history book gathers what you know about the people who came before you: who they were, where they lived, what they did and the stories that were passed down. It can include a family tree, photographs, copies of certificates, short biographies and the stories that sit between the facts.

The aim is not to prove a pedigree. It is to leave something readable. Family history work can go wrong in two ways. Either the researcher keeps researching and never writes, or the writer tells wonderful stories with no sign of which ones are true.

This page deals with both. It gives you a page budget so that you finish, a record route so that you start with facts, and a labelling system so that readers can tell fact from family story from guess. For the personal side, the stories told by living relatives, our guide to questions to ask grandparents gives you a list to work from.

Medical family history and DNA testing are outside this guide.

Reference book or story book: which structure fits?

Decide this first, because it changes everything else. A reference book is organised by person or branch, and its readers look things up. A story book is organised by chapter, and its readers read it through.

The mixed version suits most families: story chapters up front, and a few pages of tree and dates at the back. The template below uses it.

How do you scope it so you finish? A 40-page template

Set a page count before you collect a single record. Forty pages is a small, real book. The template below shows where the pages go, and the sums are shown so you can change them.

Notice that the open questions page is part of the budget. A family history book is never finished, and a page that invites corrections turns a gap into a reason for relatives to write to you.

Where do you find UK records and photographs?

Start with the records that answer the simplest questions: who lived at this address, who was in this household and what are the dates.

Censuses

The National Archives explains that censuses from 1841 to 1921 can be searched through partner websites, which are free to search but charge to view full results and images, and that they are free to view on site at Kew. The 1921 census is also free to view through Findmypast at Manchester Central Library and the National Library of Wales.¹

Two gaps matter when you plan. The 1931 census for England and Wales was destroyed by fire in 1942, and no census was taken in 1941 because of the Second World War.¹ The 1921 census was taken on 19 June, after the intended date of 24 April was postponed because of industrial unrest.¹ Its households completed schedules showing the number of rooms, and “divorced” became an official marital category in 1921.¹

In your book, a census entry is a good example of a fact you can label: a named person, in a named household, on a named date.

Certificates

GOV.UK explains how to order a birth, death, marriage or civil partnership certificate from the General Register Office. A certificate for England and Wales cost £12.50 when read on 19 October 2026 if you have the index reference number. It was £3.50 extra per search without it, and £38.50 for the priority service.² Fees change, so check the page before you order. Scotland and Northern Ireland have separate processes, and prices for them were not read.

Evacuees and the 1939 Register

If a relative was evacuated in the Second World War, the National Archives says it holds no evacuee records for individuals. Local archives and local authorities are the best sources, and the 1939 Register may help. Individual entries are open only if the person has died, and living people can request a transcript of their own entry.³

This page does not cover parish records, wills or military records, because none was read for this guide.

How do you mark fact, family story and guess?

A family history book earns trust when it shows its workings. A simple three-label system does that without cluttering the page.

UK families will recognise the kind of thing that needs a label. A name that changed spelling on a certificate. A surname that looks different from one record to the next. A story that a great-grandfather was in the Navy, which a record may support or may not. You do not have to resolve every one. You only have to say which kind of claim it is.

Add a small key on the first page explaining the three labels, and use a symbol or a short phrase in captions. That way a cousin reading it in twenty years can see what you knew and what you only suspected.

How do you care for old photographs and papers?

Old photographs are often the best part of a family history book, and the most fragile. The National Archives has a leaflet on caring for photographs, adapted from an American Institute for Conservation text by the Institute of Paper Conservation. It dates from 2004 to 2005, so read it as long-standing basic advice.⁴

• Handle photographs with clean hands, avoiding the image layer. Clean lint-free cotton gloves reduce fingerprints. Keep food and drink away.⁴
• Store them somewhere cool, dry and well ventilated. Avoid attics, basements and outside walls, where conditions swing and condensation can occur.⁴
• If you must mark one, avoid ink. Write lightly in HB pencil on the back.⁴
• Avoid self-adhesive tape, paper clips and rubber bands. Also avoid PVC, acidic boards and magnetic or self-adhesive albums.⁴
• Keep original albums intact and store them flat in acid-free boxes. Display a copy rather than a vulnerable original.⁴
• If photographs get wet, contact a conservator as soon as possible.⁴

The leaflet gives no temperature or humidity figures, so none are given here. For the book itself, scan or photograph each original and put the copy in the layout.

Who holds the copyright in an old photograph can be unclear. The Intellectual Property Office says that before 1 August 1989, copyright in commissioned photographs, portraits and engravings, such as wedding photographs, belonged to the commissioner. After that date the photographer is the first owner unless agreed otherwise.⁶ Whether using old photographs or census images in a book needs permission was not covered by the sources read, so check before you publish anything beyond a few family copies.

How do you print or share it?

For a family book, a few printed copies is usually enough to begin. Print a small number, hand them out and invite corrections. The “open questions” page in the template exists for that reason.

On ownership, GOV.UK says copyright in written work arises automatically, with no fee and no UK register of copyright works.⁵ You hold the copyright in the words you write.

Digital copies are easy to share, and they are easy to lose. Keep the master file and the scans in at least two places. Include a plain-text version of the family tree so that it can still be read if a layout program changes.

If you want to turn the research into a narrative, our memoir guide covers scenes and structure, and our life story guide gives prompts for living relatives. For a cookery-based version, see our family recipe book guide.

Where Memory fits

Chutex offers Memory, a service in preparation in which Aria, an AI, helps a person tell their life story, keeps the memories they choose to share and can prepare a book they review together. The service has its own page on this site: Chutex Memory. Memory gives no diagnosis. It is not a health professional and does not replace one.

A family history book needs both sides: the records you can check and the stories people tell. Memory is about the second, the stories, and does not replace the records route described above. If you are weighing up AI help with the narrative, see our guide to writing a life story with AI.

Frequently asked questions