SCGS Archive – Amalgamated Index

Background, datasets and future additions
Reference information (Phase 3)

The Amalgamated Index is a combined name index built from a wide range of South Canterbury genealogical datasets held by the South Canterbury Genealogical Society (SCGS). The goal is to give researchers a single entry point to discover people across many different sources.

Background

In 2020 SCGS committed to digitising datasets for preservation and easier research.
In 2022 the working group (Lois Shears, Carol Bell and Tim Brosnahan) began merging datasets into a single index.
The public index extracts surname, given names, year, source, reference fields and notes from the underlying files.

Data management notes

Underlying indexes should not be changed casually, as they feed the main Amalgamated Index.
Only checked and verified data should be added to reduce the need for later corrections.

Internal reference sheet (for SCGS admins):
Overview of transcribing status

Collections currently in the Amalgamated Index

Collection	Content	Notes
Shipping	Passenger names from ships to the South Island.	Derived from online lists; SCGS has no additional data beyond the index.
Schools	School admission registers for South Canterbury schools.
Church records	Baptisms, marriages and burials drawn from: Chalmers; Barclay Presbyterian; Otaio and Bluecliffs; Presbyterian marriages 1865–1992; St John the Evangelist; St Peter’s Temuka; St Mary’s Timaru (baptisms, marriages, burials); Temuka–Winchester Anglican; Holy Innocents (baptism, marriage, Mount Peel burials); St Alban’s burials; St Alban’s Pleasant Point baptisms and marriages; Pareora West Methodist PR14 marriages and burials 1870–1956; St Marks Beaconsfield and St Matthew’s marriages; St Andrews co-operating Parish marriages; Bluecliffs and Otaio Anglican baptisms.	Several related Presbyterian registers are represented via the main Presbyterian marriages index rather than as separate collections.
Timaru Herald – births, deaths, obituaries	Birth, death and obituary notices from the Timaru Herald.	Ongoing project; indexing approach (for example Excel index) should be confirmed before further expansion.
Timaru Herald – engagement notices	Engagement notices from the Timaru Herald.	The other party is recorded in the reference column.
Streets of Timaru 2011	People mentioned in the book Streets of Timaru 2011.
TCC Biographical File	Biographical files on selected Timaru citizens.	Bio11a, 11b and 11c are to be scanned and stored in the Society’s Google Drive. The biographical index itself is already included in the Amalgamated Index.
Arowhenua death notices and obituaries	Death notices and obituaries relating to Arowhenua.	Compiled from newspapers into a PDF document.
MR11 – Fatal Accidents in South Canterbury Alpine Regions	Index of fatal accidents in the alpine regions of South Canterbury.
Funeral Service Sheet Collection	Names extracted from funeral service sheets.	Ongoing collection. The Amalgamated Index should be updated as new sheets are indexed.
MR01 – South Canterbury Jubilee 1859–1909 Pioneers	People alive in 1909, and their families, who arrived in South Canterbury before 1866 and were invited to the jubilee dinner.	Children or spouses described only as “wife”, “son” or “daughter” with no given name are excluded.
MR06 – Extracts of Deceased Estates (NZ Gazette 1866–1900)	South Canterbury extracts of deceased estates notified in the New Zealand Gazette between 1866 and 1900.
Betts Funeral Director	Funeral records, approximately 1951–1993.	1951–1993 completed and loaded. Additional years may be added once fully checked.
MR02 – Cyclopaedia of New Zealand	South Canterbury people appearing in the Cyclopaedia of New Zealand.

Collections not yet included in the Amalgamated Index

The following datasets are known to SCGS but are not yet fully incorporated into the Amalgamated Index. They may be in the process of being transcribed, checked or structured for loading.

Funeral directors’ records Betts, Aoraki, Halls and Moore, Waimate. Transcription work is ongoing. Checked entries may be added progressively once verification is complete.
Cemetery transcriptions Transcriptions and indexes of country cemeteries, often with relatively few graves. Some are in Excel format, others as text transcripts (for example Kakahu). Names should only be added once each cemetery set is complete and checked.
MR05 An Excel index file has been created and is ready for review and loading into the Amalgamated Index.
Gentlemen’s Club Still being transcribed and not yet indexed. The original material is scanned to PDF and individual pages are available for indexing and integration.
Pioneer Index 2001 The scope and source of this index are not yet fully clear. Further investigation is required before it can be safely added.
PR61 – Indexes to Presbyterian Parish of Waihao Names only, covering burials, baptisms and marriages. There are no SCGS-held transcriptions of the full registers, but PDF and Excel name lists exist and can be considered for careful inclusion.
PR13 An Excel index exists and is awaiting checking and upload into the Amalgamated Index.

As these datasets are fully transcribed, checked and approved, they can be added to the Amalgamated Index so that researchers can discover them via a single search interface.