The National Archives (UK)

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The National Archives building at Kew.

The National Archives (TNA) as it is officially called (formerly and less ambiguously two separate organisations, the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission) is a British Governmental organisation created in April 2003 to maintain a national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom as is stated on [its web page]. Scotland is excluded, having its own national archives - see below.

TNA claims to have "one of the largest archival collections in the world, spanning 1000 years of British history, from the Domesday Book to government papers recently released to the public". It also promotes high standards in records management and archive administration both nationally and internationally.

Contents

1 History
2 Roles
3 Storage
4 Access to documents
5 External links

History

The National Archives was created by combining the Public Record Office and the Historical Manuscripts Commission (for earlier history, see the article on the Public Record Office) and is an Executive Agency reporting to the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs, Lord Falconer. The current Chief Executive (formally Keeper of the Public Records and Historical Manuscripts Commissioner) is Natalie Ceeney, formerly director of operations & services at the British Library. She has replaced Sarah Tyacke, who retired in October 2005.

The National Archives announced on June 21st 2006 that it would be merging in October 2006 with the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) which is currently a department of the Cabinet Office. The name will stay The National Archives. The merger's aim is to create a stronger National Archives which can lead Information Management, ensuring that government information is managed effectively - which better guarantees the long term role of the archive.

Roles

The roles of TNA are fourfold:

Selection - selecting which documents to store
Preservation - ensuring the documents remain in as good a condition as possible
Access - providing the public with the opportunity to view the documents
Advice - advising the public and other archives and archivists around the world on how to care for documents

It is institutional policy to include the definite article — with an initial capital letter — in its name (hence "The National Archives", sometimes abbreviated as TNA) but this practice is rarely followed in the media.

The main building of The National Archives is at Kew in west London, and the Family Records Centre is in Islington in central London. Both sites are open to the general public. The National Archives are planning to bring both of these sites together onto the Kew site (with a dedicated family history service as part of the Kew facilities) by the end of 2008.

The material held at Kew includes the following:

Documents from the central courts of law including the King's Bench, the Court of Common Pleas, the Central Criminal Court, Assizes, and Equity courts from the twelfth century onwards.
Medieval records of central and local government.
A large and disparate collection of maps, plans and architectural drawings.
Records for family historians including wills, naturalisation certificates and criminal records.
Service and operational records of the armed forces.
Foreign Office and Colonial Office correspondence and files.
Records of the modern central government departments.
Cabinet papers and Home Office records.
Statistics of the Board of Trade.
The National Register of Archives, which holds detailed catalogues of all kinds of records relating to British history held elsewhere.
The Manorial Documents Register, which notes the existence and location of manorial records in England and Wales.

There is also a museum, which displays key documents such as the Domesday Book and stages a programme of exhibitions.

In early July 2005, an article in the Daily Telegraph claimed that certain documents relating to the death of Heinrich Himmler had been faked. An internal investigation revealed that five documents were indeed forgeries and The National Archives has reviewed its security procedures in the light of this knowledge.

There is a separate National Archives of Scotland (formerly the Scottish Record Office), which holds government and private documents relating to Scotland. A similar institution in Northern Ireland is the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI).

Storage

The moveable shelving in one of the more modern repositories

The documents are stored on double-sided shelves, which are pushed together in such a way that there's no aisle between them. A large handle on the end of each shelf allows them to be moved along tracks in the floor, to create an aisle when needed.

They are generally stored in folders or boxes; many of these will have green labels stating when the papers can be examined again, under the Thirty Year Rule.

In the event of a fire, obviously The National Archives couldn't use sprinklers, and so when they are sure that everyone is clear of the building, argon gas is sprayed into the air-tight repositories.

Access to documents

Anybody aged 14 or over can access the documents, after producing proof of identity and being issued a free Reader's Ticket. The reading room has terminals from which documents can be ordered by their reference number. The reference number is composed of three sections: the department code, such as WO for the War Office; a division code, for the "subcategory" that the document falls into, this is normally three digits; and an item number, typically four to five digits.

Once a document has been ordered, assuming it is kept at Kew rather than at their second repository, "Deep Store" (a former salt mine in Cheshire), The National Archives aims to get it to the reader within half an hour (usually within 17 minutes).

Frequently accessed documents such as the Abdication Papers have been put on microfilm, as have records for two million First World War soldiers. The originals were stored in a warehouse in London along with four million others, but a bomb dropped on the warehouse in the Second World War. The surviving third were put on microfilm with the aid of the Heritage Lottery Fund. A limited number of documents are available on microfiche.

External links

[The National Archives]
[The Family Records Centre]
[National Archives of Scotland] — a separate organisation

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