The final week in November marks Catalogue Week, The National Archives’ long-standing event celebrating the work of colleagues from across the organisation.
This year we're celebrating a varied selection of updates around current and complete cataloguing projects and records research that uncover previously uncatalogued material for a wider audience. Plus, we look at a number of digital initiatives showcasing our role as digital innovators in the wider archival world, and the vital role played by volunteers.
The National Archives in London
A year in cataloguing
Here we feature seven blogs, one podcast, and one recorded presentation covering an array of subjects and time periods, starting with:
Tracing First World War medical records
The vital role played by The National Archives’ team of volunteers is no more evident than in Laura Robson-Mainwaring and Peter Helmore's blog on MH 106, Tracing medical records from the First World War.
Peter has volunteered at The National Archives for around 25 years. He has worked on the MH 106 project since September 2020, helping with onsite project management, keeping volunteers on track and maintaining oversight of completed boxes.
As a result of this effort, readers now have access on Discovery to a rich source of information for servicepeople who required medical support during the First World War. This includes details such as Name, Age, Regimental Number, Unit, Hospital and Condition/Injury/Disease.
The collection
Tracing medical records from the First World War
Explore how we are preserving medical records from the First World War and how you can access them.
The volunteer Royal Navy Captains' project
Bruno Pappalardo, Principal Records Specialist (Naval) and supervisor of the volunteer Royal Naval Captains’ letter project at The National Archives. In a blog, he reveals the latest discoveries of the volunteer Royal Navy Captains’ letters project in The A–Z of the Royal Navy Captains' letters project – 'D' to 'M'.
Once again, the project highlights the vital contribution of a dedicated team of volunteers, currently working on cataloguing 564 boxes of Royal Naval Captains’ letters of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815). Bruno presents some of the details and stories discovered from working through around 219 boxes consisting of 39,584 letters and thousands of enclosures, to complete this stage of the project.
The collection
The A–Z of the Royal Navy Captains' letters project – 'D' to 'M'
Bruno Pappalardo reveals the latest findings of the volunteer Royal Navy Captains’ letters project.
Cataloguing the State Papers Ireland
Ralph Thompson, Records Adviser (Early Modern Team), focuses on the work of a team of volunteers cataloguing the final 36 pieces of series SP 63 in his video presentation entitled SP 63 State Papers Ireland, 1775–1782. This covers a period mirroring the American Revolutionary War from 1775 to the end of the State Paper Office in 1782.
Ralph describes the volunteers’ working from Excel spreadsheets and using a modern stamped foliation numbering system, full textual summaries to populate our catalogue. Two of the volunteers have also worked on the State Papers Domestic, George III, and the earlier Revolutionary War Carleton Papers project. They have been joined by a third volunteer to create a total of 14 pieces now released to Discovery.
youtube.com
Cataloguing the State Papers Ireland
In this video, Ralph Thompson presents the latest on a project to catalogue the final pieces of a Georgian collection focused on economic matters in Ireland.
Colonial Office correspondence from West Africa
Keith Mitchell, Volunteer Projects Officer at The National Archives, provides a fascinating account describing work by volunteers in Cataloguing West African records. This latest and final part of a project cataloguing Colonial Office correspondence from Cameroons and Togoland completes our index of records for territories taken by Britain under mandate after the First World War.
Totalling 35 pieces for series CO 649 and CO 724, over 1,900 descriptions have been added to the catalogue. They provide access to a greater understanding of these events and of the collections we hold on the First World War in West Africa and the consequences of war in the region.
The collection
Cataloguing West African records
Our volunteers have finished cataloguing Colonial Office correspondence from Cameroons and Togoland, explore these records here.
An archival history of transatlantic slavery records
Continuing the theme of user empowerment, Adrian Browne, Project Cataloguer (Transatlantic Slavery), focuses on T 70’s Detached Papers, a challenging collection covering transatlantic slavery from the 1750s to the 1820s.
Adrian investigates access challenges to these papers, due to a combination of poor physical document condition, erratic record keeping and storage and weather disasters. He describes the heroic efforts of some researchers to gain access.
The current phase of the project has been an integral part of the new Partnership for Transatlantic Slavery Scholarship, Archiving and Global Exchange (PASSAGE). We hope to connect more researchers, particularly from West Africa and the Caribbean, with The National Archives’ collections by removing accessibility barriers, uniting fragile documents in addition to providing accurate and detailed descriptions that include names of people, places and things, with a global audience in mind.
The collection
Cataloguing transatlantic slavery records: an archival history
Cataloguer Adrian Browne traces the custodial history of the Detached Papers, investigating the legacies of Victorian-era recordkeeping.
The anniversary of the first modern passenger railway
Dr Jessamy Carlson, Head of Community and Transport team, hosts a fascinating podcast with railway historian Mike Esbester (University of Portsmouth) and The National Archives' Records Specialist James Cronan. The podcast, On the Record: People of the Railways, focuses on the people who built Britain’s railways, worked on them and fought for their rights as they did so.
The podcast marks the 200th anniversary of the first modern passenger railway in 2025 and reveals the human stories available within The National Archives’ vast railway collections, focusing on records up to around 1950.
Records covered in the episode include, the Taff Vale Railway strike of 1900, staff magazines connecting workers across vast distances, tales from accident registers capturing moments of tragedy and resilience, such as those in the Barry Railway Company Accident Register, and annotated timetables describing individual journeys from the past.
Podcast
On the Record: People of the Railways
In this episode, we uncover the personal stories behind Britain’s railway history—from tragedy and resilience to the everyday journeys that shaped a nation.
The National Farm Survey project
Samuel Smith, Cataloguing Officer (National Farm Survey) at The National Archives, provides an illuminating account of The National Farm Survey project. His blog, Using The National Farm Survey as a gateway for research, takes us on a whistlestop tour of how one unassuming farm in East Sussex leads us on a journey through stage and screen, motorsport successes and celebrity connections during the 20th century.
Efforts are currently underway to catalogue and digitise the collection describing over 300,00 farms and 30,000 Ordnance Survey maps. Samuel’s entertaining blog traces the extraordinary life of farmer, Jack Dunfee, through various sources. He reveals how a search beginning with just a name and address can take the user on a journey around archives across the world and add depth to the lives of individuals.
The collection
Using The National Farm Survey as a gateway for research
Discover how one farm in East Sussex can lead us on a journey through stage and screen, motorsport successes, and celebrity connections during the 20th century.
Providing access to Holocaust-related collections
In her blog Introducing the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure UK (EHRI-UK) Caroline Catchpole, Digital Capacity Development Officer, gives us an update on The National Archives’ partner role in the EHRI-UK, a national body representing Holocaust-related collections in the UK.
Caroline describes The National Archives’ technical role, focusing on taking in collection metadata from UK archives and sharing them on the wider European Holocaust Research Infrastructure (EHRI) portal. The portal currently provides access to more than 380,000 record descriptions held in over 2,300 archives across 60 countries. By successfully identifying where material is held in the UK and providing smooth transfer of this material, design workflows can ingest data from different sources using established formats and standards, for inclusion on to the portal. This work can then be shared with others working on data integration across Europe in a trans-national working group.
Digital
Introducing the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure UK (EHRI-UK)
Read about our work as part of the European Holocaust Research Infrastructure UK, a national body representing Holocaust-related collections in the UK.
Archives Revealed
In her blog, Jessica Hogg, Sector Development and Engagement Manager for Archives Revealed, explores the Archives Revealed grant programme, which is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives.
The goal of Archives Revealed is to ensure that significant archive collections, representing the lives and perspective of all people across the UK, are made accessible to the public for research and enjoyment. The new Archives Revealed programme opened in September 2024. A year on from the significant investment from the Heritage Fund, Jessica looks at the projects awarded so far and some of the upcoming opportunities to learn from grantees in a new training programme.
Community outreach
Unlocking stories through cataloguing collections: Archives Revealed
Jessica Hogg explores how Archives Revealed projects are connecting communities and celebrating diversity and identity.
I’d like to thank all colleagues for their participation in this year’s Catalogue Week and to all our volunteers for their vital contribution in making more of our content accessible for users.
