The National Archives
Rare 1776 Declaration of Independence discovered at The National Archives
A rare 1776 printing of the US Declaration of Independence has been discovered at The National Archives.
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Dispatches
Curious stories and events from around the world.
Friday, 3 July 2026
Monday, 29 June 2026
BBC Science & Environment
First dinosaur bone from Antarctica found in a drawer
The fossil, collected in Antarctica in 1985, is part of the tail of a beast called a Titanosaur.
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Wednesday, 17 June 2026
The National Archives
Unheard Voices: Encountering difficult histories with the Sri Lankan Tamil community
In this blog, Hari Chandrapal explains how she explored unsettling histories with members of the Sri Lankan community using records at The National Archives.
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Monday, 15 June 2026
The National Archives
Where Paper Remembers: South Asian Stories – A model for regional engagement
Iqbal Singh and Dr Shaniece Martin recently co‑led a workshop in Coventry inspired by the exhibition Stories That Made Us – Roots, Resilience, Representation.
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Thursday, 11 June 2026
The National Archives
The day a missile struck The National Archives' site
When Chris Ransted learned that during the Second World War, a V1 flying bomb hit the site where The National Archives now stands, he chose to investigate.
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Tuesday, 9 June 2026
The National Archives
Researching LGBTQ+ histories in the archives of government
In this blog post Vicky Iglikowski-Broad explains how you can get started in researching LGBTQ+ histories through government records.
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Thursday, 4 June 2026
The National Archives
Recovering histories of Scandinavian seafarers in the Prize Papers
On a three-month placement at the National Archives, Kaia Sollie explored records about Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian seafaring in the seventeenth century.
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Tuesday, 2 June 2026
The National Archives
Celebrating Volunteers’ Week 2026
To celebrate Volunteers' week, The National Archives’ Keith Mitchell reflects on the achievements of our volunteers and their projects.
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Friday, 29 May 2026
The National Archives
Cataloguing the copyright collection
In this blog post, Katherine Howells explores how our volunteers have catalogued copyright records and highlights the stories they can tell us.
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Thursday, 28 May 2026
The National Archives
Caribbean and West African scholars to lead new research into transatlantic slavery
New funding to preserve historical records related to transatlantic slavery.
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Thursday, 21 May 2026
The National Archives
The A–Z of the Royal Navy Captains' letters project – 'N' to 'Z'
Bruno Pappalardo reports on the final findings of the volunteer Royal Navy Captains’ letters project.
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Monday, 18 May 2026
The National Archives
200th UK archive awarded accredited status
The UK's 200th archive has been awarded accredited status.
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The National Archives
Using our records to connect through nature
In this blog post, Sara Griffiths discusses our learnings from recent outreach sessions to mark Dementia Action Week.
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The National Archives
Exploring archival value: Does the ‘perfect parchment’ exist?
Olivia Page looks back on a recent conservation workshop that explored the sensory and physical qualities of historical materials.
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Thursday, 14 May 2026
The National Archives
The National Archives wins Museums + Heritage Award
MI5: Official Secrets, The National Archives exhibition co-curated with MI5, won the Museums + Heritage Award in the category, Temporary or Touring Exhibition.
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Wednesday, 13 May 2026
The National Archives
The Many Lives of Cardboard
In this blog, Lucy Razzall explores how The Many Lives of Cardboard project uses documents from our collection to trace the histories of this everyday material.
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The National Archives
On the Record: The People’s Charter
In this episode of On the Record, we explore Chartism, Britain’s first mass political movement, driven by the working classes.
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The National Archives
Cataloguing British Army officer service records
Find out how our volunteers have improved catalogue descriptions for 19th-century military service records.
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Monday, 11 May 2026
The National Archives
The architectural history of postcolonial West African universities
In this blog, PhD student Adefola Toye considers how she has used colonial records to research West Africa's architectural history as part of her PhD.
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Friday, 8 May 2026
The National Archives
Cataloguing the BT 51 and BT 50 registered designs
Explore how a team of volunteers have transcribed The National Archives’ records of registered designs from 1885–1888.
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