The Kew campus of The National Archives serves as the central hub for accessing over 200 million documents spanning 1,000 years of British history, with a primary focus on government records from the 11th century to the present. It supports research, learning, and public engagement through exhibitions, workshops, and reading rooms dedicated to archival studies, historical research, and information governance.
- Government Records: In-depth access to state papers, cabinet papers, and parliamentary archives, with guided sessions on navigating administrative histories.
- Military and Defence: Extensive collections on army lists, medal rolls, service records, and war diaries, including workshops for tracing military ancestors from the Napoleonic Wars to modern conflicts.
- Legal and Judicial: Chancery proceedings, court records, and equity suits, supporting studies in legal history and paleography training.
- Foreign, Colonial, and Commonwealth: Diplomatic correspondence, treaty series, and migration records, with programs on imperial history and decolonization.
- Family and Social History: Census returns, civil registration, probate records, and poor law documents, featuring family history courses and drop-in clinics.
- Maritime and Trade: Admiralty logs, merchant shipping agreements, and Board of Trade files, ideal for maritime history and economic studies.
- Land and Property: Manorial documents, tithe maps, and enclosure awards, with sessions on local history and genealogy.
The campus also offers specialized training in Latin, handwriting, and digital cataloguing, alongside temporary exhibitions highlighting key themes like Domesday Book studies and WWII intelligence. These resources cater to students, academics, and enthusiasts, emphasizing hands-on archival research skills.
