Depending on the researcher, PCR can mean two things: Plymouth Court Records or Plymouth Colony Records. The two are not the same document nor interchangeable.

Plymouth Court Records, in 12 volumes, was published between 1855 and 1861 (Nathaniel Shurtleff and David Pulsifer, eds.; Massachusetts General Court may be listed as the author). The actual title of this work is Records of the Colony of New Plymouth in New England. They are available online at many locations, including MayflowerHistory.com and PlymouthColony.net. These records are the ones from which the entire AMB trial record is taken.

The following Plymouth Court Records citations include mention of Alice Martin Bishop. Make sure you refer to the actual page number printed at the top of the book page versus the pagination provided by the digital reader.

Vol 1: Page 108: Marriage to George Clarke

Vol 2: Page 79: Marriage to Richard Bishop

Vol 2: 132–134: Murder and trial

The Plymouth Colony Records Project is an archiving effort of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum and includes documents beyond those of the Plymouth courts, such as town records and personal letters and journals. Significantly, there remain unpublished Plymouth Colony records and we imagine there will be a push to get many of these accessible to the public before the 400^th anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower (2020).  You can learn more about this project at ledienamericanpilgrimmuseum.org.

Confusion arises when researchers are unaware if they are citing actual court documents from the Plymouth Court Records or items from the general collection on Plymouth Colony records.  In this blog, PCR always refers to Plymouth Court Records edited by Shurtleff and Pulsifer.