National Archives makes its entire digital archive available for free

[editor]

Worth a rummage around:

To access the National Archives, you need to register for a free account here, and then when you are logged in you can search for documents, which if available in downloadable format will be indicated.

There’s a limit of 50 downloads over the next 30 days – the full T&Cs are here.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

 

[Kate Sharpley]

ta

 

[DaveCinzano]

 

[Smokeandsteam]

Excellent. Thanks editor for the heads up

 

[William of Walworth]

That's immensely cool
One of my old colleagues went off to work there a few years ago, and she was always telling me about what an absolute treasurehouse of history the National Archives were.
Be warned that only about 5% of their collections have been digitised so far, according to this page.

 

[Roadkill]

Be warned that only about 5% of their collections have been digitised so far, according to this page.

I'm surprised it's even that, frankly. AFAIK they've something like ten miles of shelving at Kew (never mind their outstations) and over ten million hardcopy documents.

 

[T & P]

That's immensely cool
One of my old colleagues went off to work there a few years ago, and she was always telling me about what an absolute treasurehouse of history the National Archives were.
Be warned that only about 5% of their collections have been digitised so far, according to this page.

I got VERY excited for a moment when I saw the very first document on that list was for Alien arrivals...

 

[krink]

I've heard of it but what is it an archive of? i'm not really sure what it would be useful for (although obviously it will be useful)

 

[Roadkill]

I've heard of it but what is it an archive of? i'm not really sure what it would be useful for (although obviously it will be useful)

It's the UK's state archive, so it's primarily records of central government and its various bodies, although there are also quite a lot of private records in it as well. It's an amazing place.

 

[agricola]

That's immensely cool
One of my old colleagues went off to work there a few years ago, and she was always telling me about what an absolute treasurehouse of history the National Archives were.
Be warned that only about 5% of their collections have been digitised so far, according to this page.

If you can get there easily, a reader's ticket is the best possible way in London to get rid of hours and hours of time. Its phenomenal whats there.

 

[Pickman's model]

If you can get there easily, a reader's ticket is the best possible way in London to get rid of hours and hours of time. Its phenomenal whats there.

every time i go i look at what other people have got out, when they leave it unattended, and it's always very interesting

 

[Roadkill]

every time i go i look at what other people have got out, when they leave it unattended, and it's always very interesting

I had to ban myself from doing that or I'd never get anything done.

 

[Pickman's model]

I had to ban myself from doing that or I'd never get anything done.

last time i went someone was looking at reports of a mosquito raid on copenhagen in the war, i think it was this one Operation Carthage - Wikipedia

 

[agricola]

last time i went someone was looking at reports of a mosquito raid on copenhagen in the war, i think it was this one Operation Carthage - Wikipedia

Hopefully a lot more WW2 documents will be there soon, I'd really like to find some of my grandad's unit histories, service records etc (I know I can get the MoD to do that but it isn't as fun as going through the documents yourself).

 

[Roadkill]

last time i went someone was looking at reports of a mosquito raid on copenhagen in the war, i think it was this one Operation Carthage - Wikipedia

The best one I ever saw was in the supervision room. Why I had to go in there I don't know because it was only some old bankruptcy case I was looking at - perhaps some blanket thing relating to Chancery papers or something. Anyway, I'd noticed that the bloke next to me was looking at something fairly recent, because it was typewritten. Then he opened another box, went 'Jesus Christ!' and rang the bell for the conservator. I was earwigging, as you would, and it turned out he was looking at early twentieth-century murder trial records. The conservator explained that trial exhibits should have been separated out when the records were archived and just photographs put in with the papers, but that it hadn't been done all that well and they'd had a few artefacts crop up. This one was a cut-throat razor blade that a bloke had used to do exactly that to his wife!

Another TNA tale involves a very loud fart in the scholarly silence of the Map and Large Document Reading Room...

 

[MrCurry]

Thanks for the tip! The first search query I put in returned a record entitled “Postcard showing cabbages”, but alas it has not yet been digitised

I hope they continue to develop and improve this service so as to remedy this situation!

 

[davesgcr]

Kew is a fabulous place and it is always good , when your delivered documents arrive , and you can sense they have not been opened since they were archived.

Incredibly easy to get side tracked though.

 

[platinumsage]

Typically over the years there have been several times where I've been researching extremely interesting things online and ended up at the National Archives pay wall, but now can't remember what any of these things are, and will no doubt suddenly recall them when I discover that free access has ended.

 

[platinumsage]

Ok so I randomly ended upon a NA page today from a Google search and was shocked to discover the resource was free to download. I had to log in and add it my basket etc, and apparently there’s a daily limit, but no indication it was a limited-time offer.

 

[Pickman's model]

Kew is a fabulous place and it is always good , when your delivered documents arrive , and you can sense they have not been opened since they were archived.

Incredibly easy to get side tracked though.

especially if you see what people are looking at on other tables.

 

[davesgcr]

especially if you see what people are looking at on other tables.

I just get sidetracked on other "interests" - supposedly looking for my future Welsh railway history stuff (very niche) , and called up the Met Police files on the Thompson / Bywaters case of 1921. (Edith Thompson was executed 99 years ago tomorrow and is a source of interest as she was reburied in the City of London cemetery and attempts are still being made to clear her name as a miscarriage of justice) - anyway quite an experience to see the real files on this case.

You can also access , free, the recently released 1921 Census material. Excellent , free resource.

 

[two sheds]

I think you need to pay £2.50 to see entries on the detailed register (profession etc), as per Who lived in your home 100 years ago?

Eta: ah no that is Trace your Family Tree Online | Genealogy & Ancestry from Findmypast that costs, will check National Archives

Etaeta: "Today we have published the 1921 Census for England and Wales online with our partners Findmypast."

 

[platinumsage]

You can also access , free, the recently released 1921 Census material. Excellent , free resource.

A shame they burned the next one though.

 

[davesgcr]

A shame they burned the next one though.

I do not think that was planned though ! - (my Dutch researchers assured me that since their records go back further than ours (1801) , being prudent as a nation , they have everything duplicated with copies in the regions and also in the Hague)

The 1939 Register is not as good as the 1921 (or the 1931 had it survived) , - but is again useful , though some things are redacted as they might still be alive. My parent's old house in Wales had a son who was training in a Bible College - bet that did not survive the outbreak of hostilities and he probably ended up driving an ambulance or similar.

 

[Dogsauce]

I went down there once to do some research for the EA on sites used during WW1/2 to store chemical munitions in the north, due to the potential for these sites to be classed as contaminated land - most were just patches of woodland on country estates to keep them hidden and away from centres of population, but obviously nothing shown on contemporary mapping. Went down a few rabbit holes reading about chemical weapons policies / government meetings and basically how we only got rid of them because we had The Bomb as a deterrent instead, so no moral high ground there. Anyway, some of the search terms I had to use have probably put me on a list somewhere.