UK archives online
May 2019: Broken links: most have been updated. More archival entities have been added, and more links coming.
Conducting research from afar generally means finding material first. Here’s a growing list of UK archives with online catalogues. You can even ‘follow’ and ‘like’ a LOT of these places on Facebook!
Multi-site search engines (Archives/Archival materials):
- A2A Discovery / via The National Archives
- Archives Hub [JISC]
- Copac – UK & Ireland library catalogues
- AIM25 – Archives in London & the M25 area
Find a researcher:
- thru The National Archives
- thru Plymouth & West Devon Record Office [broken link]
- thru Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives (includes geographical-location listings)
(while I cannot ‘recommend’ a researcher from the above, I have had contact with a researcher in New York City and in northern California; if those places are of use to you, email me!)
UK public archives (alphabetical):
- Barnsley Arts, Museum & Archives
- Bath [see also Somerset]
- Bedfordshire (& Luton)
- Berkshire
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Buckinghamshire Studies, Center for
- Cambridgeshire / Huntingdonshire [broken link]; 2019 closures
- Camden [broken link]
- Cheshire
- Cornwall
- Cumbria
- Derbyshire
- Devon
- Doncaster Archives
- Dorset History Centre
- Dudley Archives & Local History
- Durham County
- East Riding Yorkshire
- East Sussex – Brighton (The Keep)
- Essex (SEAX)
- Gloucestershire
- Greater Manchester and Manchester City Archives
- Hampshire (HRO)
- Herefordshire
- Hertfordshire
- Kent
- Lancashire
- Lincolnshire and Lincs to the Past
- London Metropolitan; replaced by this link
- Medway Archives and Guildhall Museum, Rochester
- Norfolk (NROCAT)
- Northamptonshire
- Northumberland
- North Yorkshire
- Nottinghamshire
- Oldham Local Studies & Archives
- Oxfordshire History Centre
- Plymouth and West Devon
- Rotherham Archives
- Sheffield
- Shropshire
- Somerset (alternate link) is now South West Heritage Trust
- Southampton Archives
- Staffordshire
- Suffolk
- Surrey (SURCAT)
- Teeside
- Tyne and Wear
- Warwickshire
- Westminster (City of) (WESTCAT)
- West Sussex
- West Yorkshire
- Wiltshire and Swindon
- Wiltshire Heritage
- Macklin Sketches (a Smith & Gosling item) [just press ‘search’]
- Wiltshire Heritage
- Worcestershire
ACCESSIONS to Repositories, 1994-2017 [links by year]
Wales:
Scotland:
Ireland / Northern Ireland:
University (alphabetical):
- Bangor
- Bath
- Birmingham
- Bristol
- Cambridge (Janus)
- Edinburgh
- King’s College, London, Special Collections
- London, University Archives
- London School of Economics Library
- Manchester, Rylands Library (Elgar via Archives Hub)
- Nottingham
- Oxford
- Reading
- Southampton – includes Wellington Papers Database
- Strathclyde
Newspapers (historical/archives):
Other:
- ArchiveGrid
- British Library
- British Museum
- British Postal Museum & Archives
- CCEd – Clergy of the Church of England Database
- Chethams Library (Manchester UK)
- Lambeth Palace Library
- Museum of English Rural Life
- Royal Northern College of Music
- Royal Museums Greenwich (includes National Maritime Museum)
- Wellcome Library
- WorldCat (libraries and university-level holdings)
Parliament:
- Hansard, 1803-2005 (phasing-out website); Hansard: The Official Report of all debates (phased-in website)
- History of Parliament: Member Biographies
- Parliamentary Archives
Europe:
United States:
- Library of Congress and LC Catalog
- Morgan Library and Museum (Corsair)
- New York Public Library, Manuscripts & Archives Division
Lists of Links:
- University of Chicago (Databases US & Worldwide)
- Harvard University Research Guides for finding manuscripts
- Lists of Online Catalogues [broken link] (a “for now” substitute, via Cambridge University)
- Via The National Archives (UK)
- Victoria Research Web, Schoarly Resources; Journals; other
Diaries – Online manuscripts and books:
Let me know about any site updates — or additions & suggestions!
in the meantime, here’s a google search page [UK archives online]
another google search [search archives “manuscripts”]
Useful Alumni Directories:
- Alumni Cantabrigienses (via Archive.org)
- Alumni Oxonienses, 1715-1886 (via The Online Books Page)
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