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The
ARTS
Scheme: The National Archives Tours
One
of the most important yet daunting archives is The National Archives, situated at Kew, south-west London. It
houses over 9 million records on 170km of shelving,
and represents the national archives of England and
the United Kingdom.
Most
students working on primary source material will need
to visit The National Archives at some point, and the onsite tutorial
devotes an entire section to the complexities of The National Archives's catalogue, layout and ordering system.
Visiting
The National Archives
However there is still no substitute for a visit in
person. The ARTS
scheme offers a tour of The National Archives for groups of up to
15 students accompanied by a tutor, plus an introductory
talk that sets The National Archives in a wider archival context.
This
talk and tour was designed by Dr Nick Barratt and is
based on personal experience of both researching at,
and working for The National Archives. It covers the history of The National Archives, research techniques, understanding The National Archives reference
system, The National Archives Guide and catalogue, ordering documents
and rules and regulations. It lasts approximately 60
minutes, with a further 30 minutes set aside at the
end for questions on students' research topics.
Booking
a session
To book a session, please contact
us or email your request to arts.scheme@virgin.net.
You will then be sent a booking form by return of email,
which you should fill in and return. Suitable dates
can be negotiated but the following timetable should
be considered:
-
In order to comply with The National Archives regulations concerning
group visits, bookings need to be made at least 4
weeks in advance.
- The
names of all students (or at least an indication of
student numbers) should be provided 2 weeks beforehand
so that registration cards can be sent out.
- Registration
cards must be completed and returned to The National Archives no
more than 1 week before the session. This enables
The National Archives reader's tickets to be prepared in advance.
- Failure
to return the registration cards will mean that tickets
are not pre-prepared; at best this will delay the
session, and at worst may result in the exclusion
of the student in question.
More
detailed information on what the students will need
to bring with them, and general arrangements for the
session, will be emailed with the booking form.
Cost
The cost of each session is £50. This covers delivery
of the session (60 mins plus 30 mins Q&A) and the
preparation of training material.
PLEASE
NOTE: if the session over-runs through late arrival,
an additional hour will be charged at V/L rate £30
per hour.
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