Join us for a night of suffrage celebration, entertainment and… jiu jitsu!
For our Archives at Night event taking place on Friday 18 May 2018, we are pulling stories from our collection that chart the course of the suffrage movement in the early 20th century: protest, militancy, and the outbreak of war on a global scale. Tickets are on sale from today.
As with every Archives at Night, this will be an evening of incredible activities, fascinating talks, and some astonishing original records. Our programme* includes:
and…
Your ticket includes a complimentary drink on arrival.
This event is strictly adults only (18+).
*Programme is subject to change.
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A stop-motion animation about the women’s suffrage movement created by a group of 14 teenagers using records held at The National Archives had its debut showing last night.
The premiere of ‘Suffrage Tales’ was the first time the participants and their families had seen the result of their film-making work. The teenagers – aged between 16 and 19 – spent a week in The National Archives in August 2017 working with original records to interpret them, creating a 14-minute animation.
The film headlined the suffrage arts evening organised by the Education department. Sharing the billing was a performance of ‘A Presentment of Ordinary Women: a Suffragette play for the twenty-first century written by The National Archives’ student writer in residence. The play was also inspired directly by research into suffrage documents at The National Archives.
A document display of original suffrage records followed the screening, allowing the audience to see the inspiration behind both productions for themselves.
The evening demonstrated the creativity and determination of the young people, who were able to translate the challenging content of the files into two pieces of art.
Rachel Hillman, Education Operations Manager, Education and Outreach at The National Archives, said: ‘Suffrage Tales conveys these young people’s response to archival material – it is their interpretation of the fight for women’s suffrage as detailed in the records.
‘This film is testament to the engaging power of original documents, and to the creativity and enthusiasm of a committed group of young people’.
Teenage filmmaker, Yasmin, commented: ‘Suffrage Tales has inspired me to believe these tales of suffrage should be transferred to our generation, giving us the inspiration to struggle against something that limits us or our liberty.’
The project was kindly funded by the Friends of The National Archives.
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The National Archives has been awarded £720,600 to create 24 new digital traineeships following a successful bid for National Lottery funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).
Trainees will undertake a newly designed, bespoke digital training course, covering skills in digital acquisition, preservation, access and engagement, to fully equip them for future careers in this rapidly growing part of the archives sector.
Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives, said:
‘Digital skills are vital to the future of the archive sector. Bridging the Digital Gap provides a unique opportunity for digital trainees and a great chance for archives to diversify both entry routes and the skills profiles of their staff.’
Stuart Hobley, Head of HLF London, said:
‘Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, this is a real investment into how we can all access our archives. Trainees will gain invaluable experience and knowledge whilst archive services will gain fresh perspectives, strengthen the sector’s workforce and work towards an exciting digital future.’
There are two groups of host archives. One is formed of London research institutions and the other, Danelaw Digital, is a partnership of archives in Yorkshire and East Anglia. The London group consists of the UCL Institute of Education, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Kings College London and the Wellcome Collection. Danelaw Digital comprises Hull University Archives, East Anglian Film Archive, Norfolk Record Office and the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.
The first traineeships will commence in October 2018.
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The National Archives and Research Libraries UK invite submissions for this year’s Discovering Collections Discovering Communities (DCDC) conference, which will be held between 19 and 21 November at the Birmingham Conference and Events Centre.
Laura Tompkins, Academic Engagement Manager at The National Archives, said:
‘We are thrilled to be taking DCDC to Birmingham, a vibrant hub of culture and heritage. This year’s theme aims to both inspire and challenge attendees on some of the principal conversations taking place across our sectors, including diverse representation in collections, the role of anniversaries and digital transformation.’
Submissions are invited on this year’s theme from heritage and cultural organisations and the academic sector. Projects that showcase collaborative working across these sectors are particularly encouraged. Abstracts for papers and workshops should be submitted by Sunday 29 April 2018. See full details of the call for papers.
Please note that there is a new pricing structure for DCDC18. Find out more.
Join the conversation on social media #DCDC18
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‘Suffragette City’ offers a unique experience to step back in time based on original photographs, police reports and witness statements held at The National Archives. The project documents the life and arrest of Lillian Ball, a dressmaker and mother from Tooting, arrested for smashing a window in 1912.
Surveillance photographs of suffragettes who had been imprisoned in HM Prison Holloway
Using the extensive collections of The National Archives, which include Home Office, Metropolitan Police and Cabinet Office papers, as well as pamphlets and letters seized in raids on the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) headquarters, Suffragette City will recreate a number of key places important to the story of the movement, including the WSPU’s Headquarters, a tea room and a police cell. The set was created by the creative producers, O’Neill/Ross, who specialise in producing, curating and designing site-sensitive experiences.
Come along to read a replica Suffragette newspaper over a cup of Edwardian milk punch, learn jujitsu, join a Suffragette sing-a-long or travel further down the rabbit hole to experience life as a Suffragette.
Audience members can go on their first Suffragette mission, with actors leading the way, where they will make a series of choices about how committed they are to the fight for equality.
Suffragette City runs at the London Pavilion, Piccadilly Circus, from 8 to 25 March.
Buy a ticket for tours and events
For more information on our Suffrage 100 season of events and exhibitions, and our suffrage records and resources, please visit our dedicated portal: nationalarchives.gov.uk/suffrage-100
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The interior of the Public Record Office of Ireland as it was in 1922
The National Archives is one of four partners supporting a ground-breaking project to digitally reconstruct the building and contents of the Public Record Office of Ireland, destroyed by fire at Dublin’s Four Courts complex at the outset of the Irish Civil War.
The project, ‘Beyond 2022: Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury’, was launched today at an event in Trinity College Dublin. The project is a collaboration with Trinity and four archival partners: The National Archives (UK), The National Archives of Ireland (Dublin), The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (Belfast) and The Irish Manuscripts Commission. The project is funded by the Irish Research Council.
Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives said,
‘What really stands out for me about Beyond 2022 is the nature and scale of the collaboration involved and we are proud to be one of the partners in this innovative project.
‘Partnerships allow us to pool resources, share expertise and work together to enable the very best possible outcomes for archives and their collections, for the people using them and for our wider cultural heritage.’
When the Public Record Office of Ireland went up in flames on 30 June 1922, seven centuries of Ireland’s historical and genealogical records stored in a magnificent six-storey Victorian archive building known as the Record Treasury were lost. In one afternoon, hundreds of thousands of records of the governance of Ireland, dating back to the 13th century, were destroyed – seemingly forever.
Developments in digital technology, historical research and archival theory and practice mean that these losses are not irrecoverable. Today historians and computer scientists at Trinity College Dublin have unveiled plans to bring Ireland’s Public Record Office back to life by creating a 3D virtual reality model of the destroyed building and refilling its shelves in order to provide fully-searchable access to surviving documents and copies of the lost records, which have been identified by the team in archives and libraries around the world. The completed project will be made available on the centenary of the fire in 2022 and will allow a global audience to connect with 700 years of Ireland’s past.
Read Jeff James’ speech from the launch event (PDF, 0.27 MB)
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Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives, Jeff James presented the National Theatre Archive with their accreditation certificate on Friday 2 February 2018, making them the 100th service to achieve Accreditation, and the first theatre.
On awarding the certificate, Jeff James said, “In assessing the National Theatre’s Archive, the Accreditation panel were hugely impressed by the archive’s considerable achievements and by how valued the archive is by the entire organisation.
“There is a clear contribution of archive service to the theatre’s overall mission to open up theatre-making and theatre-history to all.”
Officially the Royal National Theatre, (NT), it was founded in 1963 and based at the Old Vic theatre in Waterloo until 1976. The current building on the South Bank contains three theatres (Olivier, Lyttelton, and Dorfman).
Its archive covers the theatre’s period of operations from 1963 to the present day. In addition, it contains records detailing the movement to found a national theatre, with records dating back to the mid-19th century. The archive is both a specialist archive and a business archive, and has built a very high profile within the sector in the last few years.
The Archive is based at the NT Studio with Erin Lee as Head of Archive. It houses a research room, work areas and storage. Onsite, the collections are accessible to all, through several “front of house” spaces in the theatre.
Archive Service Accreditation is the UK-wide standard for archive services, supported by a partnership of key professional archives bodies. It is a national benchmark and quality standard. It recognises good performance across three important areas: organisational health, collections management and access.
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We are launching a dedicated Suffrage 100 web portal to mark 100 years since some of the first women were given the vote.
This year we are hosting a variety of events to mark the centenary of the 1918 Representation of the People Act. Our Suffrage 100 season is part of the nationwide Vote 100 campaign.
Victoria Iglikowski, Principal Records Specialist – Diverse Histories, says: “The National Archives holds unique documents relating to women’s suffrage, many of which challenge existing ideas, showing a highly organised, national movement.
“It is really exciting to be pulling together our resources on this topic to enable wider public understanding and to help researchers, through events, blogs, podcasts and research guides. We look forward to adding more content throughout this centenary year”.
The Suffrage 100 web portal covers the following topics:
It will be regularly updated throughout the year. Browse the new portal.
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The Keeper’s Gallery will be closed from Tuesday 6 February until May 2018.
This closure is to allow us to redevelop the space, creating a new exhibition on Women’s Suffrage.
The exhibition is being created to celebrate 100 years since women were first entitled to vote in Britain, and will open in early May.
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The programme, a partnership between The National Archives and The Pilgrim Trust, is the only funding stream dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archives in the UK.
Thanks to the Wolfson Foundation, Archives Revealed will benefit from £75,000 per year over the next three years to fund further essential cataloguing to create new and exciting opportunities for researchers and the wider public.
Jeff James, Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives said:
‘Archives Revealed is of huge importance to archives, their collections and our wider heritage. Through our work as sector lead, we know that many services hold rich collections of great interest to academics, researchers and the wider public, but which are currently uncatalogued and therefore inaccessible.
‘The Wolfson Foundation’s support will have a real impact in opening up those collections and reaching those audiences, and that is why we are fully committed to the scheme, both financially and in supporting the running of it, alongside our partners at The Pilgrim Trust.’
Paul Ramsbottom, Chief Executive of the Wolfson Foundation said:
‘Cataloguing is the golden key that unlocks the hidden treasures of archives. The Wolfson Foundation is delighted to be announcing this funding, which forms part of our wider funding of history, heritage, libraries and archives. We remain convinced of the crucial importance of our cultural heritage – and the careful cataloguing of the country’s archival riches is a key part of understanding and debating our past.’
Archives Revealed awards two kinds of support. Cataloguing grants of up to £40,000 will be available to create catalogues of archival collections. Scoping grants of up to £3,000 will also be available to help archives to conduct collection analysis which will support the development of plans for their future cataloguing priorities and projects.
Read more about Archives Revealed.
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EXT 1/315 Pt2: Women Come and Help poster, First World War
We are delighted to announce a call for papers for First World War Home Front research which has been conducted over the centenary period, for presentation at a two-day conference taking place on 19 and 20 October 2018 at The National Archives, Kew. Paper submissions for presentation must be received by Monday 30 April 2018.
The conference, ‘Voices of the Home Fronts: Reflections and Legacies of the First World War’, is being delivered in partnership by The National Archives, the ‘Gateways to the First World War’ and the ‘Everyday Lives in War’ Engagement Centres. The keynotes speakers will be Prof Sophie de Schaepdrijver and Richard Van Emden.
Jessamy Carlson, Partnerships and Programme Manager, First World War 100 and Other Special Projects at The National Archives, said:
‘With the centenary of the end of the First World War approaching, this conference seeks to bring together independent researchers, community groups and academics to discuss the impact of the Armistice.
’This includes life and society in the immediate aftermath of the war – from national and international perspectives – through the use of unusual and under-used sources.’
We invite proposals for conference papers, panels, and workshops on topics which may include, but are not limited to:
We particularly encourage submissions from independent researchers, institutions, and community groups.
Find more information on how to submit a proposal.
Join the conversation on social media #HomeFrontVoices
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MEPO 2/11409 Back cover of issue 3 of booklet Black Power Speaks 1968-1969
Diversity and inclusive histories will be the focus of this year’s Gerald Aylmer Seminar with the full programme and registration now available.
Taking place on 23 February 2018 at the Institute of Historical Research, in London, the annual seminar is being delivered in partnership between the Royal Historical Society, the Institute of Historical Research, and The National Archives.
The theme of this year’s seminar is ‘Diversity amongst the documents? The representation of BAME communities within the UK’s archives’. Speakers will address how the researching and writing of inclusive histories demand the creation, cataloguing, and use of diverse archives, with a focus on archives that chronicle Black, Asian, and minority ethnic lives, institutions, and initiatives.
Bringing together leading archivists and historians, the Gerald Aylmer Seminar will discuss and debate how these communities are represented in UK archives. The keynote lecture will be delivered by Professor Hakim Adi, from the University of Chichester.
Questions that the seminar will address include:
The event is free to attend but registration in advance is required. Book your place.
Follow the conversation on social media #Aylmer18
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Today we have released files from the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office predominantly covering the year of 1992, and also a selection of files from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The newly released Cabinet Office files (CAB and PREM) shed light on a range of subjects both at home and abroad under John Major’s leadership. In addition to 1992, this release includes some files from the last years of Margaret Thatcher’s government. The Foreign & Commonwealth Office files (FO and FCO) focus on British activity in Germany post-1945 and also include the Private Office papers of various individuals including former Foreign Secretaries James Callaghan and Douglas Hurd.
The files are available to view in the public reading rooms at The National Archives, Kew. A selection of files have been digitised and can be viewed and downloaded using our catalogue, Discovery.
PREM 19/3890 A letter from Prime Minister John Major to his predecessor Margaret Thatcher
Domestically, the files cover issues as diverse as the use of the Government Car Service (PREM 19/3232), ministerial responsibility for zoos (PREM 19/3783), and the publication of volumes four and five of the Official History of Intelligence in the Second World War (PREM 19/3785). An expansive document outlining the Conservative Party’s draft manifesto proposals for the 1992 General Election and subsequent discussion among Cabinet members (PREM 19/3636) shines a light on the style of Major’s leadership. Also relating to the parliamentary election is a two-part file encompassing post-election briefing papers for a new Prime Minister: including plans and papers for either a returning Conservative or a newly-elected Labour Prime Minister (PREM 19/3701). There are details of the 1992 Hayes Report into the sinking of the pleasure steamer Marchioness on the River Thames in August 1989 at a cost of 51 lives (PREM 19/3658). While a debate on Broadcasting Policy includes draft consultation papers exploring the future of the BBC as the corporation’s Charter was due to expire in 1996 (PREM 19/3618 and PREM 19/3619).
PREM 19/3908 The rules for the Heads of Commonwealth charity cricket match in Zimbabwe
Internationally, there are various files relating to the end of the Soviet Union and Moscow’s relationship with the UK. This includes the final disintegration of the USSR, the resignation of Gorbachev, and questions about the security of the Soviet nuclear arsenal (PREM 19/3562). In addition, the ongoing government response to the Chernobyl disaster continues into the 1990s (PREM 19/3656). John Major’s visit to Zimbabwe for a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, which also included a charity cricket match at the suggestion of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, is included (PREM 19/3908), as is a file outlining sanctions against Yugoslavia and Belgrade’s withdrawal from the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona (PREM 19/3955). The release also includes a file on the internal situation in Iraq in aftermath of the Gulf War (PREM 19/3401), and one containing requests by former US President Richard Nixon to meet with the Prime Minister (PREM 19/3986).
Read a blog post from our records specialists on this release.
You can also find out more about our previous file releases.
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The National Archives has announced the closure of the Information Fair Trader Scheme (IFTS). Since the first government information trader was accredited to the Scheme in 2003, IFTS has set and assessed standards for public sector information traders through a programme of regular accreditation assessments of the major information traders, including Ordnance Survey, the Met Office and the UK Hydrographic Office, and a desk-based self-assessment of other information traders, such as the Government Art Collection and Transport Scotland. A complaints procedure formed part of the Scheme until it was effectively replaced by the statutory complaints process run by the Information Commissioner’s Office under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations 2015.
The decision to close IFTS has been taken because the standards it set and assessed have now been superseded by the statutory arrangements put in place by the Regulations.
The National Archives continues to be responsible for the management of Crown copyright, and to provide the UK policy lead for matters relating to re-use. The Licensing Forum, which provides practitioners from across the public sector who are involved in licensing and copyright with an opportunity to share best practice and problems and to discuss developments in information policy, will continue. The National Archives will continue to provide policy advice and guidance on the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations, and further details on the Regulations can be found here.
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We will be closed from Saturday 23 December to Wednesday 27 December, and from Saturday 30 December to Monday 1 January inclusive.
Find more information about our opening times and closure dates on our Visit us pages.
For information about public transport in the festive period, visit the Transport for London website.
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