Records at The National Archives, UK were working documents used by the British government to support the running of state and empire. Now at The National Archives, these records are a resource for historians to understand Britain’s colonial past. Drawing mostly on Colonial Office material, participants will have the opportunity to order records and understand how to navigate and search for them in different ways. We will be thinking about records in different places and getting a sense of the flows of information and process, and how they connect to different government departments. The workshop will guide researchers through practical tasks and introduce them to different record types, from visual material like maps and photographs, to correspondence between colonial governors and the Colonial Office in Whitehall. Participants will also consider the experience of working with colonial records and the affective nature of the material and the stories they tell.

Day 1 (Online only) will introduce participants to the online catalogue and give an overview of case studies within the collection at The National Archives. You will select three records to order on Day 2, supported by specialists from the archives.

Day 2 (In-person only at The National Archives in Kew) will begin with registering for a readers’ ticket. Together we will look at documents from across the collection, beginning with the Colonial Office and drawing on material from a range of government departments, covering the late 18th century to the post-war period. Participants will also work with the registers and indexes which will support you to find relevant material in Colonial Office correspondence before 1926.

This workshop is part of The National Archives PAST (Practical Archival Skills Training) programme, and is designed to be valuable for researchers in any field including those who have never worked with archives before, and those who have previous experience but wish to improve their archival research skills and understanding of the collections.

Participants are expected to attend both sessions, online and on site.

Read our detailed access guide here.

Picture from From Here to There event at The Migration Museum, co-hosted by The National Archives.

PAST: Working with Colonial Office Records at The National Archives

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