The National Archives
INTRODUCTION
The website of the National Archives can be very confusing at first sight. It is easy to search in a random fashion but it is also very easy to lose yourself and then not appear to be able to reproduce your search for another time. Because of this, many people don’t bother with it …
HOME PAGE IMAGE
On the left hand side of the Home Page you will see a menu. Each link takes you to a page where you will find an explanation of what is available to help you in your research and where you will find it – these links often take you outside the site itself.
MENU IMAGE & EXPLANATION OF HOW THE SITE WORKS
Family History
Direct links to sources and background information for Census records, Births, marriages & deaths, Wills, Adoption records and Outward passenger lists.
More family history takes you to a detailed explanation of how to begin your research.
Military History
Direct links to sources and background information for the British Army, Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Royal Air Force, WW1 medals, Merchant navy, WW1 soldiers’ records.
The bottom link on this menu takes you to a detailed explanation of How to research military history.
Learning and research
*The Catalogue
This is a listing of all the records which are available in the National Archives. Once you have tracked down a document which interests you, you will get the reference number which you will need if you are planning to go to Kew yourself to view the original record, or it is sometimes possible to arrange for the document to be sent to you electronically in various ways and at various costs.
*Documents Online
This is the area where, for a standard fee, you can immediately download the document which you find. These documents are also held by the National Archives.
*Research Guides A-Z
This is a listing of very detailed explanations of the various resources available on the site. For each topic there is a great deal of background information as well direct links to the types and references for the sources available and where they can be found.
A search from this page will search The Catalogue
*Research Tools
This page will give you direct links to information about wills, WW1 records and other collections as well as some general information about using the site.
Any search from this page will search Documents Online
More to come ...
DIFFERENT WAYS OF SEARCHING (OR GETTING LOST)
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Visuals:
- Finding and downloading a will
- Finding and downloading a medal card
