WAGS Library and Dewey Classification - Outline of Relevant Classes
The Dewey classification originated in the nineteenth century, and knowledge has vastly expanded since then.
Although it is regularly updated, the main classes reflect their nineteenth century origins, and it was certainly not devised with genealogists in mind. However it is the most widely used general classification scheme in the world and does achieve its main purpose of bringing related material together, hence its continued use.
The main numbers relevant to the WAGS genealogical collection are set out below.
Most of the material is located in class 300 Social Sciences and class 900 History Geography Biography, with some items scattered throughout the other main classes.
200 Religion
Contains material about various religious groups such as Quakers, Catholics, Jews, as well as histories of specific churches
300 Social Sciences
300-309 Emigration / Immigration
and there is also related material in 325
325 Shipping
Arrivals and departures. Includes schemes such as Fairbridge
338 Industrial
Books about specific industries, such as timber, dairying, etc.
355 Military science
A large section containing much material relevant to genealogists: military history, marines, airforce, etc. Includes Broomhall’s The Veterans.
360’s Social services
Includes hospitals and charitable bodies
363 Police
Including crime and criminals
364 Convicts
A large section, which includes Western Australian and eastern states convicts, Convict Group files, First Fleet material
370’s Education
Including histories of particular schools, staffing etc.
380’s Communication and transport
Includes railways, shipping, post offices, etc. - general and specific material.
400 Language
Contains a small section of language dictionaries
600 Technology and Applied Sciences
610’s Medicine
Including nursing histories
620’s Engineering
622 Mining
Mining disciplines of engineering , especially gold, etc.
630’s Agriculture
Includes books on farming, timber industry, forestry, etc.
640’s Home economics
Includes hotels and publicans
700 Arts
720’s Architecture
Includes works relating to heritage, public buildings
770’s Photography and photographs
Includes works on the camera, dating of photographs, etc.
796 Sports
Including histories of sporting clubs, etc.
800 Literature
808 Writing
Includes family history, life stories
900 History Geography Biography
910’s Geography
Includes atlases, street directories, voyages, travels, shipwrecks, ships’ journals, Log of logs
(Note: Many atlases are shelved with oversize volumes at the start of the collection.)
914 Place names, gazetteers, topographical dictionaries
919 Shipwrecks
920’s Biography
Includes collected and individual biographies, the Western Australian Biographical Dictionaries, ADB, etc.
929.1 Genealogy
Including books about, indexes, guides, eg. Dead Reckoning, handbooks, etc. Guides to tracing your family tree, including online sources.
929.2 Family histories
Arranged alphabetically by name of family, not author of book. A large collection of works
929.3 Sources
929.4 Surnames
929.6 Heraldry
929.7 Burke’s Peerage, Debrett’s and similar works
940 War
Includes history of battles, battalion histories, etc.
Includes WW1 and WW2 material
941.1 Scotland
General then subdivided by counties
941.5 Ireland
General then subdivided by counties
942 England
General then subdivided by counties - arranged by geographical areas, not alphabetically
943 Germany
944 France
945 Italy
950 Asia
960 Africa
971 Canada
973 United States of America
990 Australasia and Oceania
993 New Zealand
994 Australia
994.1 Western Australia.
Includes Swan River Pioneers and EPG files, Group Settlement Scheme, and other general material.
994.11 Perth and suburbs
994.12 Wheatbelt and South West region
994.13 Murchison region and Pilbara
994.14 Kimberley region
994.16 Goldfields region and Yilgarn
994.17 Esperence region
994.2 South Australia and subdivisions
994.29 Northern Territory
994.3 Queensland and subdivisions
994.4 New South Wales and subdivisions
994.47 ACT
994.5 Victoria and subdivisions
994.6 Tasmania and subdivisions
Julie Martin
Hon Librarian
March, 2012