Our taught sessions and online resources cover a variety of time periods and places. Many contain structured investigations for use directly in the classroom. Others are more suited for research and preparation. They all allow access into our unique collections.
Showing 209 resources
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19th century prison ships
What do these documents reveal about attitudes to crime and punishment?
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A ‘right’ to relief?
In what ways did paupers hold the Poor Law to account?
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A Victorian prison
Why were Victorian Prisons so tough?
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Adolf Hitler
Was Hitler a 'passionate lunatic'?
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African nurses
What part did they play in British health services?
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All pals together
Would you like to meet our tommy, Henry Fairhurst?
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American Revolution
What political ideas in the colonies influenced the American Revolution?
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Anglo-Saxons – Gift from a King
What was Anglo-Saxon society like?
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Attlee’s Britain 1945-1951
Planning for the future?
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Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement
From Conflict to Peace - 25 Years On
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Belsen concentration camp 1945
What did the British find when they entered Belsen concentration camp?
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BGFA25 – Discussion Activity
From Conflict to Peace - 25 Years On
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Body Snatchers
What led to the Anatomy Act of 1832?
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Boston Tea Party
How was the 1773 Boston Tea Party significant for the American Revolution?
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Bound for Britain
Experiences of immigration to the UK
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British Response to V1 and V2
How did Britain respond to the threat of attack by missiles in 1943?
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Bulaya Chanda
What do these documents reveal about Bulaya Chanda, soldier and ‘showman’?
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Bussa’s rebellion
How and why did the enslaved Africans of Barbados rebel in 1816?
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Capturing our Collections
Artworks inspired by documents found in The National Archives
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Caribbean history in photographs
What can these photographs tell us?
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Cats and mice
What tactics were used by suffragettes, police and government?
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Chamberlain and Hitler 1938
What was Chamberlain trying to do?
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Child migration
Why were children sent to Canada in 1869-1913?
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Christmas is cancelled!
What were Cromwell’s main political and religious aims for the Commonwealth 1650-1660?
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Civil Rights in America
Follow the progress of the struggle through the archives
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Cold War
How concerned were the British in the early stages of the Cold War?
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Cold War on File
Why did the Cold War emerge?
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Commonwealth migration since 1945
What was the context and impact of migration in modern Britain?
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Coping with Cholera
How did the authorities react in 19th century?
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Crime and Punishment: Robert Peel
How was law enforcement changed by Sir Robert Peel’s new Metropolitan Police Force?
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Criminal petitions
What do they reveal about the justice system?
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Discover the Dissolution
How did the Dissolution change my local area?
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Downing Street Declaration (KS4)
Key Stage Four Resources - Lesson One
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Dr James Barry
Why was he significant in 19th century medicine?
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Early Modern witch trials
Who was accused?
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Eden’s last stand
Why did Anthony Eden resign in 1938?
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Edward the Confessor
What does the Domesday Abbreviato tells us about Edward the Confessor?
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Elizabeth I’s monarchy
Rule of a ‘weak and feeble’ woman?
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Elizabethan propaganda
How did England try to show Spain planned to invade in 1588?
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England’s Immigrants, 1330-1550
Downloads for teachers
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English Reformation c1527-1590
How did state and people respond to religious change?
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Enquiring into Elizabeth
What can we learn about Elizabeth I’s ruling style from her letters and speeches?
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Evacuation to Canada
How much care was really taken?
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Evacuation to Shropshire
What happened to children who were sent away?
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Fifties Britain
Never so good? Or too good to be true?
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Foundling Hospital
What were conditions like for children in the care of the Foundling Hospital?
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Framlingham Castle
What was the primary function of Framlingham Castle in the ‘Middle Ages’?
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From Outbreak to Archive: Tales of Public Health
What do the documents reveal about how government and society dealt with public health in the past?
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From the Front
How typical was Albert Edwin Rippington’s experience of war?
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General Haig
Butcher of the Somme or hero of Amiens?
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Georgian Britain
Age of modernity?
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German occupation of the Rhineland
What should Britain do about it?
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God blew and they were scattered
Did God really help the English defeat the Spanish Armada?
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Government posters
How did Britain encourage people at home to help win the war?
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Great War soldier’s record
What can we find out?
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Health and the Poor Law
To what degree did the Poor Law make an important contribution to Public Health?
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Henry VIII court rules
How did Henry VIII get up in the morning?
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Henry’s royal rules (SEND)
What were the rules of daily life for a king in Tudor times?
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Hidden Love: LGBTQ+ lives in the 1920s and 1930s
What can our documents reveal about LGBTQ+ lives in the 1920 and 30s?
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Hitler assassination plan
How did the British plan to kill Hitler?
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Holding History
What is 'The National Archives'?
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Home Front 1939-1945 (part one)
How did Britain fight the war at home?
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Home Front 1939-1945 (part two)
How did Britain fight the war at home?
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Huguenots in England
What was the experience of Huguenot migrants in seventeenth century England?
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Indian Independence
What led to Partition in 1947?
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Jacobite propaganda
What was the point of Jacobite propaganda?
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Jews in England 1066
Why did Jews settle in England after 1066?
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Jews in England 1216-72
What was the relationship between Christians and Jews from 1216-72?
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Jews in England 1290
Why did Edward I expel the Jews in 1290?
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Jutland: Death at sea
Were lives wasted when the Indefatigable sank?
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Kenilworth Castle (part one)
What can you tell from an image?
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Kenilworth Castle (part two)
What do the medieval records reveal?
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Kindertransport
Saving refugee children?
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Letters from the First World War, part one
How did these men experience the conflict? (1915)
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Letters from the First World War, part two
How did these men experience the conflict? (1916 - 18)
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LGBTQ+ Rights in Britain
How have changes in laws and attitudes affected LGBTQ+ people in Britain?
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Loyalty and dissent
How did Indian soldiers respond to the First World War?
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Mangrove Nine protest
What does this reveal about police brutality and racism in '70s Britain?
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May Fourth Movement 1919
Why did the Paris Peace Conference lead to a mass protest movement in China?
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Medicine on the Western Front
How can we find out about medical treatment in the First World War?
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Medicine on the Western Front (part one)
How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
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Medicine on the Western Front (part two)
How did trench warfare affect injuries and treatment?
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Medieval castles
What was their purpose and significance?
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Mental Health on Record
What do the documents reveal about the understanding of mental health in the past?
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Migrants to Britain
What can government documents reveal about the experience of Indian seafarers?
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Murder at Kirk o’ Field
What happened in 1567?
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Native North Americans
What was early contact like between English colonists and Native Americans?
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Partition of British India
What can The National Archives documents reveal about the partition of British India?
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People – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
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Places – GCSE English Language
Using images for descriptive and narrative writing
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Protest and Democracy 1816 to 1818, part 1
Was this the start of mass politics in Britain?
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Protest and democracy 1818 to 1820, part 2
How close was Britain to revolution?
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Rebecca riots
What happened during them?
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Rebels in the records
What can we learn from documents that show how people ‘rebelled’ in the past?
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Richard II
Were the troubles facing England in the 1370s and 1380s due to Richard II’s age and inexperience?
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Russia in Revolution
How did witnesses of the Russian Revolutionary period portray these events to the British government?
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School dinners
Why were school dinners brought in?
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Seafarers’ Stories
How can we tell the stories of the Mirpuri, Bengali and Panjabi seafarers who travelled to Britain in the 1920s-30s?
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Slavery
How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect the slave trade?
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Suffrage Tales
What would you do?
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Terfysg Beca (Cymraeg/Welsh)
Beth a ddigwyddodd yn ystod
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The Belfast (Good Friday) Agreement (KS4)
Key Stage Four Resources - Lesson Two
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The Boxers of Whitechapel
What do the documents reveal about the inhabitants?
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The Chinese Civil War
Why did the fighting between the Kuomintang and Chinese Communist Party happen?
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The Great Seal
What can it tell us?
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The Holocaust
Key documents from The National Archives
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The Mangrove Nine
How much can documents from The National Archives reveal about the Mangrove Nine?
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The Search for ‘Terra Australis’
What did Captain Cook’s secret mission involve?
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The South African War
How did the British conduct war in 1899-1902?
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Thirties Britain
The depressed decade?
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Tudor Entertainment
What was the effect of the early playhouses?
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Twenties Britain (part one)
Decade of conflict, realignment and change?
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Twenties Britain (part two)
Decade of conflict, realignment and change?
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Ugandan Asians
What was the impact of the expulsion from Uganda on the lives of British Asians?
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Uncovering LGBTQ+ lives in the archive
What types of sources might be useful to find out about the lives of LGBTQ+ people in the past?
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Victorian children in trouble with the law
Did the punishment fit the crime?
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Victorian Health Reform
How did the Victorians view compulsory vaccination?
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Victorian Industrial Towns
What made them unhealthy?
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Victorian Railways
Did they create more crime?
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What caused the 1832 Great Reform Act?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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What caused the ‘Swing Riots’ in the 1830s?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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What methods did the Suffragettes use to gain the vote?
Political reform in 20th century Britain
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What was Chartism?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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What was the significance of the Match Girls’ Strike in 1888?
Political and social reform in 19th century Britain
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Whitechapel
How can we find out about what Whitechapel was like in 1888?
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Why did the Luddites protest?
Political reform in 19th century Britain
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Why was radical writer Thomas Paine significant?
Political and social reform in 18th century Britain
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William Shakespeare
What can we find out about his life?
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Women and the English Civil Wars
How did these conflicts affect their lives?
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Workhouse Voices Creative Writing
Stories inspired by letters from the past
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Zeppelin raids
How did First World War Zeppelin raids affect British civilians?