Practical Archival Skills Training: 20thC Government Visual Communications

The National Archives’ collections include examples of government communication campaigns across the C20th, from wartime propaganda and race relations information to health and road safety campaigns. In this in-person workshop at The National Archives' site in Kew and through hands-on sessions with original documents, students will learn how to find and interrogate the range of visual material produced by government.

Sessions will include:

An introduction to government communications in the C20th

How did government communications develop over the course of the C20th? What methods and media did different government departments employ and what were the messages they focussed on?

Government film

What films did government produce and where can they be seen? What do The National Archives’ collections tell us about the background to government film campaigns?

Government artwork, posters and leaflets

What can The National Archives’ collections of artwork, posters, leaflets and other print media tell us about the different ways government tried to convey information visually?

The story of a campaign

How can we use The National Archives’ collections to explore the communications strategy behind a specific campaign?