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 329 resources
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1833 Factory Act
Did it solve the problems of children in factories?
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1834 Poor Law
What did people think of the new Poor Law?
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1919 race riots
How significant a factor was race in the riots of 1919?
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19th century mining disaster
What happened at the Trimdon Grange Mining Disaster?
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19th century people
What can we tell from this photograph?
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19th century prison ships
What do these documents reveal about attitudes to crime and punishment?
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4099 is my name (SEND)
How can we share the experiences of someone who lived in the past?
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A ‘right’ to relief?
In what ways did paupers hold the Poor Law to account?
A Great Christmas Inconvenience
What can we learn from the documents about how some Victorians celebrated Christmas?
A Significant Person
Why is this person from the past remembered?
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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 on board!
What can we learn from old board games?
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All pals together
Would you like to meet our tommy, Henry Fairhurst?
All Work and No Play
What does this document reveal about work in the past?
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Anglo-Saxons – Gift from a King
What was Anglo-Saxon society like?
Animals in the Archives
What jobs have animals done in times of war and peace?
Archaeology in the Archives
What kinds of documents can tell us about the work of archaeologists?
Archives Ahoy!
What can we learn about pirates from our collection?
Archives Live: Windrush 75
Special live event from The National Archives
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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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Black Victorians
How much can documents reveal about the lives of Black people in Victorian Britain?
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Body Snatchers
What led to the Anatomy Act of 1832?
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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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Census detective
What can you find out?
Census Detectives
What does the census reveal about families in the past?
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Chamberlain and Hitler 1938
What was Chamberlain trying to do?
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Chartism
Who were the Chartists?
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Chertsey
What was Chertsey like in the Middle Ages?
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Child migration
Why were children sent to Canada in 1869-1913?
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Children’s Clothing in the Workhouse
What do the letters tell us about pauper children's clothing in the workhouse?
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Choosing for the Archives (SEND)
How can we find out about someone from the past, using documents, images and objects?
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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 and racial segregation
What was the response to racial segregation in the US?
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Civil Rights in America
Follow the progress of the struggle through the archives
Codes and Secret Messages
What do the documents reveal about codes and secret messages?
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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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Coronations: Ceremony and Change
How can we find out about Coronations in the past? How far have Coronations changed over time?
Craft Club – Christmas Cards
Festive pop-up cards
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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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Crisis in the reign of Mary I
How far can Mary I’s reign be considered a time of crisis?
Curiosities
What is this curious object?
Dear Herbert
What can personal documents reveal about people’s lives?
Disaster at Sea
How can we find out about significant events in the past?
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Discover the Dissolution
How did the Dissolution change my local area?
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Domesday Book
What can we learn about England in the 11th century?
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Domesday Book: medieval treasure
What can we learn about people’s lives in 1086?
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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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Empire Windrush: Caribbean migration
Why did people from the Caribbean travel to live and work in Britain?
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Empire Windrush: Early Black Presence
What do the sources reveal about an early Black presence in Britain?
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Empire Windrush: Life for Migrants in the 1940s and 50s
What do these documents reveal about life for Caribbean migrants to Britain in the 1940s and 1950s?
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Empire Windrush: The Notting Hill Carnival
What do the sources reveal about the significance of the Notting Hill Carnival and why it began?
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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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Florence Nightingale
Why do we remember her?
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Food Glorious Food
What was food like for a child in the Victorian workhouse?
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Foundling Hospital
What were conditions like for children in the care of the Foundling Hospital?
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Four days’ hard labour
What was life like for a Victorian child criminal?
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Framlingham Castle
What was the primary function of Framlingham Castle in the ‘Middle Ages’?
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French Revolution
How did the British react to July 1789?
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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?
Fun in the Files
What can our documents reveal about how people had fun in the past?
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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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Going to School in the Workhouse
How was school for pauper children different, and what was the same?
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Gordon Ford’s story
What was it like to be an airman in the Second World War?
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Government posters
How did Britain encourage people at home to help win the war?
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Great Fire of London: examine the evidence
How can we know what happened back in 1666?
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Great Fire of London: how London changed
What happened?
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Great Plague of 1665-1666
How did London respond to it?
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Great War soldier’s record
What can we find out?
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Gunpowder Plot
Can you uncover the plans of the plotters?
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Have we underestimated the Victorian Poor?
To what extent did the Victorian Poor accept their fate in the workhouse?
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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 VIII: image of a king
Was appearance everything for a ruler in the 16th century?
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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'?
Holidays are Here!
What can our documents reveal about how families enjoyed summer holidays during the Second World War?
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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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Hong Kong and the Opium Wars
How did Hong Kong become part of the British Empire?
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How did the government respond to a mass protest at ‘Peterloo’ in 1819?
Political reform in 19th century Britain
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How we were taught
What was school like 100 years ago?
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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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Introduction
What is The National Archives?
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Introduction to document research
What can archives reveal about the past and how history is constructed?
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Irish Partition
Why was Ireland divided in 1921?
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Jacobite propaganda
What was the point of Jacobite propaganda?
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Jacobite Rebellion of 1715
Rebels with a cause?
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Jacobite Rising of 1745
A serious threat to the Hanoverians?
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James I
What were the key areas of dispute?
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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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Life aboard the Titanic
Who travelled on the fateful maiden voyage?
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Life in 1950s Britain
What can we find out about life in 1950s Britain using documents from the time?
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Life in 1960s Britain
What can we find out about life in 1960s Britain using documents from the time?
Living under canvas
What can this document tell us about the experience of a group of refugee children?
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Living under canvas: Child refugee stories
What can we learn from documents about the experiences of Basque child refugees?
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Loyalty and dissent
How did Indian soldiers respond to the First World War?
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Magna Carta teacher’s resources
Downloads for teachers
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Magna Carta, 1215 and beyond
A medieval revolution?
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Mangrove Nine protest
What does this reveal about police brutality and racism in '70s Britain?
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Mapping London
How and why does an area change over time?
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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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Medieval seals
What can seals tell us about medieval times?
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Medieval Society
What roles did women play in Medieval times?
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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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Past pleasures
How did the Victorians have fun?
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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
Propaganda
How can art be used to convey a message?
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Propaganda: the art of persuasion
How did the British government encourage people to support the war?
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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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Protesting against the New Poor Law
What can archival material tell us about protest?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson One
What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about punishments for workhouse children?
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Punishment in the workhouse – Lesson Two
What can ‘pauper voices’ reveal about attitudes towards punishments in the workhouse?
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Queen Anne
How can we find out about her?
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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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Resistance and Rebellion in the Caribbean
How did enslaved people resist?
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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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Rob Roy
A Victorian railway accident
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Role of a Queen – Mary I and Anne
What can we find out about the roles of Queen Mary I and Queen Anne?
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Role of a Queen – Matilda and Elizabeth I
How has the role of Queen changed from the past?
Samuel Pepys
What does his will reveal?
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Say ‘cheese’: a portrait of Queen Victoria’s family
What can Queen Victoria's family photographs tell us?
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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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Selling the Victorians
Victorians for sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times?
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
What can an object reveal about its owner and life in Medieval England?
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Significant Events
What happened then?
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Significant People
Who is who?
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Significant People
Key Stage One Activity Book
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Significant Places
What's in a place?
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Significant Women: discover their stories in the archives
What can documents tell us about significant women’s lives?
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Sixties Britain
A social and cultural revolution?
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Slavery
How did the Abolition Acts of 1807 and 1833 affect the slave trade?
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Spirit of Invention: Explore, design, create!
What can the Victorians teach us about how to be an inventor?
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Suffrage Tales
What would you do?
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Suffragettes ‘in Trousers’
How did men support votes for women?
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Suffragettes on file
What did the struggle for the vote involve?
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Suffragettes through government eyes
What do government records reveal about the suffrage movement?
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Suffragettes: Outrage at Kew
What's the story?
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Sugar
What can original documents tell us about the history of sugar?
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Terfysg Beca (Cymraeg/Welsh)
Beth a ddigwyddodd yn ystod
The Beautiful Game
What can our documents reveal about an incredible sports match?
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The Boxers of Whitechapel
What do the documents reveal about the inhabitants?
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The Great Seal
What can it tell us?
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The Holocaust
What can British government documents tell us about what happened in the Holocaust?
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The Holocaust
Key documents from The National Archives
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The Home Front
How did people prepare for the war at home?
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The Independence of Bangladesh in 1971
What can British documents tell us about the creation of Bangladesh?
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The King, the Crown and the Colonel
How did Thomas Blood try to steal the Crown Jewels in 1671?
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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 Sinking of the Titanic
Why were so many lives lost in the disaster?
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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?
Time Travel Club Activities
Discovering The National Archives
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Tobacco
James I & VI: How was tobacco viewed, consumed, and traded in the Stuart period?
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Travel smart through time (SEND)
How and why have people travelled around in the past and how have they done it safely?
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Treasures
What 'treasures' are there at The National Archives?
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Trimdon
What was it like living in a late 19th century mining town?
TTTV: Refugee Week 2021
What can we learn from documents about Basque children’s experiences in refugee camps?
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Tudor Entertainment
What was the effect of the early playhouses?
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Tudor rebellions
How seriously did they challenge the authority of the crown?
Tudors: Image of a King
How did monarchs present an ‘image’ of themselves in the past?
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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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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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Uncovering the past
How can we use photographs to find out about the past?
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Unmasking a spy
Who was Karel Richter?
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Victorian children in trouble with the law
Did the punishment fit the crime?
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Victorian family history
How can we find out about the life of a Victorian child?
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Victorian Food and Drink
What do old adverts reveal?
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Victorian Health Reform
How did the Victorians view compulsory vaccination?
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Victorian homes
Was there much difference between rich and poor homes?
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Victorian Industrial Towns
What made them unhealthy?
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Victorian lives
How was life different in Victorian times?
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Victorian Railways
Did they create more crime?
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Walter Tull
How can we use sources to find out about him?
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Wartime Propaganda
How did Britain try to keep the support of West African peoples?
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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 is a Jubilee?
What can we find out about Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee?
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What is history?
How do historians know what to believe?
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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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Who was Noor Khan?
What can documents reveal about her role during the Second World War?
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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
What did paupers say about the Poor Law?
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Workhouse Voices Creative Writing
Stories inspired by letters from the past
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Workhouse Women
How were women treated in the Victorian workhouse?
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World Cup 1966
Did England rig the result?
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Zeppelin raids
How did First World War Zeppelin raids affect British civilians?