The collection
Norfolk Island: the ultra-penal colony
New
Volunteer Dr Brenda Mortimer examines how Australia's Norfolk Island became ‘a place of the extremest punishment’ for colonial convicts in the 1820s.
Blogs at The National Archives
Discover all the latest news, projects and updates from blogs across The National Archives.
Most recent posts
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Community outreach
A unique collaboration: students designing audio drama
NewWhat ideas did a group of students come up with when given the chance to design audio dramas inspired by records in The National Archives' collection?
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Digital
Welcome to the new National Archives blogs
NewWe introduce you to our new blogs and explain why we’re so excited to share with you the improvements we have made.
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Digital
Designing our button
NewWe recently went through the process of standardising the set of components we use to build our websites. The simplest of these was the button.
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The collection
Five reasons to visit MI5: Official Secrets
From secret codes to never-before seen devices, here’s five reasons to visit our current MI5: Official Secrets exhibition.
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Community outreach
Three UK archives engaging new audiences for VE and VJ Day anniversaries
Get a taste of how archives across the country are using engagement grants from The National Archives to commemorate these important anniversaries.
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Research projects
Reflections on History and Practice 2025: Working with Memory
We look back at this year's History and Archives in Practice event, held on Wednesday 5 March at Senate House, London.
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Community outreach
Reflecting on History Mysteries: a look into the life of Anne Lister
Our Education team reveal how they went about researching and producing a fascinating new resource to coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month.
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The collection
The Long March to Freedom 1944–1945
Eighty years ago a series of forced prisoner of war marches took place. We trace some of the incredible stories from these marches through our records.
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Research projects
The pannotype mystery: cracking the code of a forgotten photographic process
We delve into the fascinating research recently undertaken into a number of Victorian records in our collection featuring rare examples of early photography.
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Research projects
The history of ‘indecent advertisements’ in public toilets
Collaborative doctoral student Jessica Gregory shares her research using records held at The National Archives.
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Community outreach
Archives and Emotions book launch: reflecting on models of collaboration
Iqbal Singh reflects on co-authoring a chapter for a new book on archival engagement practice.
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Research projects
Narrating ephemeral archival presence: LGBTQ+ histories and Colonial Office records
PhD student Garfield Campbell took on the challenge of scoping LGBTQ+ lives in colonial records. Here, he reflects on his findings.
