The Friends is a voluntary organisation dedicated to supporting our role in preserving and providing access to the nation’s records.
Over the years The Friends of The National Archives have funded numerous projects involving: conservation, digitisation, cataloguing and indexing of documents; education and outreach; family days; events and conferences; specialist equipment; and films, radio, art, drawing and drama that use original documents.
The Friends aim to:
- promote and assist the work of The National Archives through fundraising and practical support
- educate the public in the knowledge of public and other records
The organisation provides vital help to The National Archives with many projects, enabling records of all kinds and classes to be conserved, preserved, catalogued, calendarised, indexed, made accessible and studied. It does this through providing grants to support projects, as well as getting involved in volunteering.
The Friends have part-funded conferences and seminars at The National Archives and offered financial support to staff travelling to represent The National Archives at external conferences and events.
They also organise and host events at The National Archives, and sometimes in conjunction with other bodies such as the Friends of The Keep Archive (FoTKA) and The Friends of West Sussex Record Office (WSAS).
The Friends’ magazine Magna is published once a year and includes a range of interesting articles based upon the records held at The National Archives and elsewhere.
The FTNA Newsletter is sent periodically to members with information on events, news and snippets of interest.
Learn more about the Friends
Find out more about The Friends of The National Archives and how you can become a member on the Friends website.