How do the material and visual histories of our collection enhance our collective understanding of our shared history?

Background

Finally, we believe that archives are for everyone, and should mean something to everyone. It is not enough to wait for our stakeholders to come to us; we must go beyond our own front doors, to realise the public value of the archive in society through our educational and student programmes, our work in communities, and our partnerships with the wider academic sector.

This research theme captures our vision for the archive as an institution that helps us both understand and shape our own wellbeing and social identity, as a space where the stories of our records and our objects come to life, and as a place where our users are fully empowered, including by the latest technological tools, to conduct their own scholarship into our collection.

The National Archives is one of around 2,500 archives in the United Kingdom. Our vision can only be realised through a national infrastructure of public and private archives, delivering social and economic value in the places where they are found, and working in partnership with the wider galleries, libraries, museums and academic (GLAMA) sectors. As the sector leadership body for archives, we are committed to releasing their potential through an ambitious vision for the archives sector across the UK.