Resources About Archives

Online Resources

An Introduction to Archives from King's College Cambridge, with definitions, principles and information about records, catalogues and consulting materials.

Research skills for historians - a step-by-step website from the University of Nottingham: what archives are, where they are held, how to start your research, digitised archives, using archive gateways and catalogues, using archives effectively

Learning to do Historican Research - this is a US-based primer for environmental historians and others covering essential stages of the research process.

The UK National Archives (TNA) has a great 'Start here' set of pages that are orientated towards using records held at TNA, but also cover definitions and how to use archives.

Obituaries Help, a website designed to offer resources for obituaries, funerals, and genealogy search.

Dr David Worthington at the University of the Highlands and Islands has developed a map which allows users to locate and explore archival repositories in the Highlands and Islands. It is currently limited to repositories which maintain some kind of web presence.

Videos

Introduction to the Essex Record Office - a video showing a typical record office, which may help those who are unsure about how record offices work and what is required. Record Offices, or archive reading rooms, do vary, but they tend to be quite similar in terms of conditions of use.

Making use of Laban Archive - Thea Nerissa Barnes. The independent researcher, Thea Nerissa Barnes, outlines how she discovered and used the materials within the Laban Archive to further her research.

Tate video on using Sketchbooks, part of a Tate Archive series on Animating the Archives

Stanley Kubrick's Boxes (on Vimeo)- a full length 2008 documentary film by Jon Ronson about the film director Stanley Kubrick. The intent was to understand Kubrick by studying the director's vast personal collection of memorabilia related to his feature films. The archive is now held at the University of the Arts, London.

Books

The Craft of Research - a book aimed at researchers at all levels including advice on how to begin your research

Reading Primary Sources: The Interpretation of Texts from Nineteenth and Twentieth Century History - a book on how to approach primary sources, wiht an overview of different types of sources such as letters, diaries and newspapers.

Archives: The Very Essence of Our Heritage - a book that explores the profusion and diversity of archives

Past or Portal? Enhancing Undergraduate Learning Through Special Collections and Archives - case studies from the USA that demonstrate the value of archives (available to purchase)

Documents

The landscape of archives in the UK - a document that explains a bit about the landscape, covering custody, responsibility, the role of archivists the catalogue, and some keyfeatures of archives and records.

Blogs

Teaching from Archives: The Magical and Meaningful - a blog post about working with students using archives for the first time

The Boy Who Found a Horse: a blog post from TNA on ways of locating interesting records.