The National Archives
The UK National Archives (formerly The Public Records Office) collection of records is vast, so please visit their website, where the archive can be searched. Records useful from a genealogical perspective include census records, military papers, passenger lists and wills amongst many other categories.
The National Archives do not hold births, deaths and marriages civil registration information, these are at the General Register Office, but the indexes can be consulted at TNA. The Family Records Centre has now closed and its services have transferred to TNA.
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Remote Access to Records
A large number of documents can be purchased in digital form on TNA's Documents Online service.
Very helpfully, copies (paper or digital) of records can be distance ordered for a fee. The slower service can take several weeks but can cost as little as 35p a page, whereas the new Express Service costs from £8.50 but will be completed in a matter of hours. See Order copies of documents. When visiting the archives you can usually take digital photographs of a document (including of a microfilm reader screen), but check this with a member of staff to avoid any problems.
FIBIS Resources
The Fibis Research team can visit The National Archives to obtain copies or details of information held for Fibis Members unable to access the records there. To enquire about this service please email research@fibis.org
Visiting the Archives
- Please check TNA's 'planning your visit' webpage for further information, including obtaining a reader's ticket. Some of the more popular records are available on microfilm in the reading rooms (Read the description of the records you are interested in to find out whether this applies). Readers' tickets are only required if you want to look at original documents.
- Reference to the online short Animated Guidesmay help in preparation for a visit to the Archives - subjects include using the catalogue and indexes, records held and arrangement of records.
- It should be noted that a charge of £5 per day is proposed for use of the car park from 27th April 2010 and this should be prepaid via a dedicated phoneline or website.
Access to Archives
The Access to Archives search facility can be used to search the India Office Records catalogue (link below).
