Using indexes

Learn how to use indexes to find information within records.

Transcript

Many of the items held by The National Archives are boxes of records rather than single documents.

Some of these were indexed while they were still in use by the government department that created them.

This helped the department to find specific information within the records.

Where an index exists you can find it listed in the catalogue along with the boxes of records it relates to.

So, if you were looking in the catalogue for a specific airman, Harry Geller, the description of the records in the catalogue may not be detailed enough to help you find him.

Using these indexes will point you to the right name range and box to look in.

You can find out more in the guidance on our website.

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