11 October 2026 (past event)
- 11:00 to 16:00
Special event
Discover your family history day
Want to research your family history but don’t know where to start? Or have you hit a brick wall piecing together your ancestors' stories?
- Date
- 11 October 2026
- Location
- The National Archives, Kew
About this image
Louis Wain’s record in the 1921 census. Catalogue reference: RG 15/6471
Join us for a day celebrating family history and be inspired by talks, original documents, and expert genealogy advice.
Hear from specialists, discover documents to use in your own research, and meet experts from partner organisations who can help you piece together your personal family story.
Featuring specialists from:
- The National Archives
- Ancestry
- Find My Past
- The Genealogist
- Migration Museum
- Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland
And talks from house-history specialist, Mel Backe-Hansen and historian and genealogist Paul Crooks.
Event Programme
A full programme for the day can be found on our Eventbrite listing. Please plan your day carefully to ensure you are able to attend the sessions you are most interested in.
Talks
Expert-led talks will take place throughout the day across three different spaces. Please note these have a limited capacity, and will be on a first come first served basis, and some sessions take place simultaneously.
Family history advice
Meet family history experts from The National Archives and other organisations throughout the day on a drop-in basis.
Original Documents
View examples of original documents from our collection related to family history research. Please note coats and bags cannot be taken into any displays with original documents. We do have a free cloakroom on our ground floor.
Event details
- Date
- 11 October 2026, 11:00 to 16:00
- Price
-
£12 to £15
Early bird and general admission tickets
- Location
- First floor
-
The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, TW9 4DU
This event has sold out.
Dates for this event
Plan your visit
What is The National Archives?
The National Archives is the official archive of the UK government, and England and Wales. We are the guardians of over 1,000 years of iconic national documents.
Everyone is welcome to visit our headquarters in Kew. We put on exhibitions, events and displays and offer reading rooms giving access to our collections there.
Getting here
The National Archives is located by the River Thames in Kew, 30 minutes from Central London. We offer advice on travelling to us by car, bike, train or bus.
Children and families
We provide a warm welcome to visitors of all ages, including children and family groups.
- Free activity sheets (for ages 1+) are available from the Time Travel Club trolley in our entrance hall
- Our café is child-friendly and there are picnic benches outside
- Prams and buggies are welcome, and we have a buggy park
- Baby changing facilities are located by our entrance hall, at the top of the main stairs, and in the library
- Emergency supplies of nappies and wipes are available
Eat and drink
We have a café and coffee bar provided by Maids of Honour, a historic local tea room and bakery. It has spacious indoor and outside seating and a soft play area.
On the menu is a variety of high-quality lunchtime meals, sandwiches, snacks, soft drinks, tea and coffee. Vegetarians, vegans and other dietary requirements are all catered to.
