Use of The National Archives Materials

1. Introduction

The following guide applies to:

• the use of information and quotations obtained from records held in The National Archives
• the reproduction of copies of documents and other records supplied by The National Archives
• the reproduction of copies of documents and other records made by readers

Where this guide relates to copies of documents it applies to copies in any medium and format, whether analogue or digital.

Most records in The National Archives are still protected by copyright, whatever their age. Many of these records are Crown copyright, but many others are not. For information on copyright, including Crown copyright, review our guide Copyright and Related Rights.

There are differences between the use of public records and non-public records, so records held in The National Archives are identified appropriately in our catalogue, Discovery. Public records are defined in the schedule to the Public Records Act 1958.

In general terms, unless copyright has expired or the use of a copyright work is permitted by copyright law (for example for the purposes of non-commercial research), you must:

1. identify and trace the present copyright owner
2. obtain permission to reproduce the work -if you think you may need to reproduce the work in the future it will be better if you cover both applications at the same time
3. acknowledge the copyright and give credit as appropriate to the author, the rights owner and the custodian
4. pay any associated fees

Whenever material from The National Archives is reproduced, in any form and in any medium, you must acknowledge The National Archives as the source and give the document references.

2. Transcription and quotation

Crown copyright

Information about Crown copyright can be found in our guide Copyright and Related Rights.

Textual content from The National Archives’ website may be freely reproduced under the terms of the Open Government Licence unless it is specified that it is not Crown copyright. You are free to transcribe, translate, index and quote from published or unpublished Crown copyright material among the records as extensively as you wish.

You may also publish the results in any format and any medium in accordance with the terms of the Open Government Licence.

Third-party copyright

The National Archives does not authorise any use of third-party copyright material. It is your responsibility as the user to ensure that copyright is not infringed and any infringement that does occur is also your responsibility.

You may transcribe and quote from non-Crown copyright material among the records provided the use is permitted by an exception in copyright law or has been authorised by the rights owner. Exceptions under UK law include fair dealing for the purposes of private study or non-commercial research and educational use for the purposes of examination (including in a thesis or dissertation which is to be examined).

See section 5 to find out how to obtain permission to use certain series of records. The National Archives has no information on the ownership of other third-party copyright materials among the records, and cannot advise on how to trace rights owners.

3. Obtaining copies

Unpublished works

You may obtain copies of any public records (which are identified as such in Discovery). You should note that, unless an exception applies, you will need the permission of the copyright owner before you re-use the copies. Use without permission for any commercial purpose or for any purpose on the internet is likely to infringe copyright and could result in legal action against you by the rights owner.

You may obtain a single copy of a literary, dramatic or musical work, together with any illustrations, in a document that is not a public record (which is identified as such in Discovery) only if you complete a statutory declaration form, obtainable from the Record Copying counter.

By signing this, you declare that:

• you have not previously been supplied with a copy of the same material
• you will not use the copy for any purpose other than private study or research for a non-commercial purpose
• you will not make a copy of the copy for anyone else
• you believe the document to have been unpublished when it was deposited in The National Archives and that the rights owner has not prohibited copying -a work is unpublished unless, with the approval of the copyright owner, copies have been issued to the public or it has been made available to the public online

You should understand that by signing the form and obtaining the copies you become liable for any infringement arising from the making of the copies or your use of them thereafter, unless an exception applies or you have permission from the rights owner.

Use for any commercial purpose or publication on the internet is very likely to infringe and may result in legal action by the copyright owner.

Published works

You may obtain a single copy of parts of published works held in the library of The National Archives. If copies are made and supplied by staff of The National Archives, you may receive only a copy of one article from an issue of a periodical or a reasonable proportion of any other type of literary, dramatic or musical work, together with any illustrations. A ‘reasonable proportion’ is usually accepted to mean the greater part of a single chapter or 5% of the book. You must complete a statutory declaration form which is available from Reading Room staff. Using materials from The National Archives.

By signing this you declare that:

• you have not had a copy of the same material before from the same or another library
• you will not use the copy for any purpose other than private study or research for a non-commercial purpose
• you will not make a copy of the copy for anyone else
• so far as you know no other person with whom you work or study has requested a copy of the same material for the same purpose

The same comments apply to your use of copies of published works as to copies of unpublished work

4. Reproduction of copies and images

The reproduction of copies of non-Crown copyright records held in The National Archives will probably require permission from the copyright owner.

You may reproduce copies of Crown copyright records held in The National Archives for purposes of private study, non-commercial research or education without limitation. Educational use includes use for teaching, preparation for teaching, and examination, by either teacher or student.

You must obtain permission from the Image Library of The National Archives for the reproduction of copies of records, which are protected by Crown copyright for publication, on the internet, for broadcasting, for exhibition or for any commercial purpose.

Images reproduced on The National Archives’ website, including Crown copyright and other works in the records, may be reproduced only with the permission of the Image Library. In addition, works identified as being the copyright of a third party on The National Archives’ website, or in the Discovery catalogue, may not be reproduced except with the permission of the copyright owner.

5. Copyright in certain special cases

A. British Transport Commission and British Railways Board records (RAIL and AN record series)

You must obtain permission to publish material still in copyright from the following sources: Records of canal companies in record series RAIL 800 – RAIL 899:

Railway company films deposited with the British Film Institute or the Imperial War Museum, from the appropriate institution.

Other kinds of records relating exclusively to Scotland of railway or canal companies, of the British Transport Commission or the British Railways Board:

Records of railway or canal companies or in other British Transport Commission and British Railways Board records not in any of the above categories, from the Copyright team at The National Archives.

B. Crown copyright material in non-public records held outside The National Archives

Many archival holdings, including the records of local authorities and of families or private individuals, contain some published or unpublished Crown copyright works.

For further information about permission to re-use these documents, please contact the Copyright team at The National Archives.

C. Duchy of Cornwall records

There are many documents in The National Archives – especially among Exchequer and Chancery records – that are copyright of the Duchy of Cornwall.

You may use these documents for non-commercial purposes with the permission of the Copyright team at The National Archives.

D. Duchy of Lancaster records (DL record series)

These are not public records, but those among them where the copyright rests with the Duchy itself may be reproduced with the permission of the Copyright team of The National Archives which will seek consent of the Keeper of the Records of the Duchy of Lancaster (DL record series).

E. Haig diaries (record series WO 256)

The copies of the manuscript diaries of Field Marshall Sir Douglas Haig (record series WO 256) during the First World War are copyright of his grandson. The originals are preserved in the National Library of Scotland. The text of the diaries is widely available on microfilm and much of it has been published in: Gary Sheffield and John Bourne (ed.s), Douglas Haig: War diaries and letters, 1914-1918 (Weidenfeld and Nicolson 2005).

You may obtain copies from the reproductions in The National Archives for purposes of private study or non-commercial research.

Hudson’s Bay Company records (BH record series)

Copies of material in the copyright of the Hudson’s Bay Company (BH record series) may be supplied but you may not sell them, give them away or deposit them in another archive without permission. Limited quotations and reproductions of documents may be published without permission so long as you give the full reference (including The National Archives’ document reference, the folio or page number and the microfilm reel number) and you acknowledge the Hudson’s Bay Company Archives at the Provincial Archives of Manitoba.

G. London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012 (LOCOG) records

The Olympic Movementʼs intellectual property is directly and expressly protected by Acts of Parliament: 'The Olympic Symbol etc. (Protection) Act 1995' and 'The London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Act 2006'. The British Olympic Association (BOA) is charged, through these statutes, with the responsibility for managing and controlling the commercial exploitation of such intellectual property including, but not limited to, the following protected words and images:

• The Olympic five ring symbol (or anything similar)
• The words Olympic(s), Olympiad(s), Olympian(s) (and similar words such as ʻOlympixʼ)
• The motto 'citius, altius, fortius' and its English equivalent 'Faster, higher, stronger'
• The Team GB, BOA and Pride the Lion logos are registered trademarks of the BOA. Likewise, Olympic Games logos and mascots are registered trademarks of the International Olympic Committee ('IOC') and/or the relevant organising committee in place from time to time.

Any unauthorized use of the BOAʼs and/or the International Olympic Committee’s protected intellectual property is strictly prohibited and is subject to a number of legal penalties that the BOA will enforce.

Explore the London Olympic Games and Paralympic Games 2012 (LOCOG) record series in Discovery.

H. Legal records

Records created by most of the higher courts of law (including quarter sessions, county courts, assize courts, the Crown court, the Central Criminal Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court) or an Inquiry established under the Inquiries Act 2011 are Crown copyright.

Records created by the former Judicial Committee of the House of Lords are Parliamentary copyright (see below). Records created by private individuals and submitted to a court or a judicial inquiry (including witness statements, depositions and many exhibits) are usually copyright of the creators and their successors.

I. Parliamentary copyright

Unpublished works in Parliamentary copyright in The National Archives may be treated in the same way as unpublished Crown copyright works. Published Parliamentary copyright works may be reproduced under the terms of the Open Parliament Licence.

Further information on the use of Parliamentary copyright material can be found on the UK Parliament website.

J. Police records

Material created by a serving police officer in the UK is Crown copyright. Material created by civilian staff members of a police force is copyright of the local police authority. However, the most appropriate place for enquiries in either case is the relevant police authority. Information on some of these is given below.

If the police authority does not issue its own licences for re-use of Crown copyright police material, the Open Government Licence applies.

Where the Metropolitan Police is the copyright owner of material within MEPO series records, their material may be reproduced for educational, charitable, or other non-profit making purposes, including non-commercial radio broadcasts, with the permission of the Copyright team at The National Archives.

You must obtain the permission of the Metropolitan Police Service for any use of its copyright material within Metropolitan Police (MEPO record series) records for commercial or other profit making purposes, including television and commercial radio broadcasts. Requests should be submitted via the online enquiry form on the Metropolitan Police website:

MEPO records can also contain third party copyright material for example, witness statements, press cuttings, photographs and evidence.

These will require separate rights clearance from the copyright owner.

Material among the records which was created by the Royal Irish Constabulary until 1922 is copyright of the Commissioner of the Garda:

Permission for the use of material among the records which was created by the Royal Ulster Constabulary 1922–2001 or the Police Service of Northern Ireland since 2001 should be obtained from the Northern Ireland Policing Board:

For the use of material among the records which was created by other police forces in the UK you should obtain permission from the relevant police authority.

K. Prime Ministers’ Letters in the Royal Archives (record series CAB 41)

The records in The National Archives are copies of Crown copyright materials held in the Royal Archives in Windsor Castle and may be reproduced only with the permission of the Copyright team at The National Archives.

L. Probate records (PROB record series)

Copyright in a will or codicil is normally vested in the testator and passes (unless otherwise assigned) to his or her heirs. The reproduction of wills therefore needs the permission of the descendants of the testator.

Copyright in the acts of a probate court (such as probate clauses and letters of administration) is vested in the court. In the case of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury and other probate jurisdictions abolished by the Court of Probate Act 1857, ownership of the court’s surviving copyright passed to the Crown. Acts of courts of probate since 1857 are Crown copyright.

Explore the PROB record series on Discovery.

M. Public records outside The National Archives

About 20% of public records are held in places of deposit (such as local record offices) appointed under s. 4(1) of the Public Records Act 1958. Copying of these, and the use of Crown and Parliamentary copyright material and other copyright material among them, is subject to the same conditions as for public records in The National Archives. Each record office or other institution may operate its own controls over the use of images it supplies.

N. Ramsay MacDonald papers (record series PRO 30/69)

You may not obtain copies nor may you publish material among these papers (record series PRO 30/69) without the approval of the Copyright team at The National Archives, who will in certain circumstances need to obtain the consent of the copyright owner.