Access to Archives (A2A)

About A2A

A2A is part of the growing national archives network in the UK, alongside sister projects in Scotland and Wales, and in British universities and colleges. The archives network provides information about archives – 1000 years of the UK’s documentary heritage - on the Internet, to make this heritage more easily accessible to everyone.

The A2A database

The database contains catalogues describing archives cared for and made available by many organisations including local authority record offices, archive offices and libraries, national and private institutions and universities. These catalogues have mainly been selected, by regional or subject-based groups of archivists or archives users, to reflect a particular theme.
The catalogues are the key to the archives they describe, but before A2A many of them were only available for consultation at the archive repository where the documents themselves were held.
The A2A database contains links to contact details for archive repositories. This means that you can search for and then arrange to see, or request copies of, the archive documents you want – with just a few mouse clicks.

Using the A2A database

The catalogues are fully searchable in a number of ways:
· Search
Search by entering a Keyword or phrase. Other search options include Location of Archives (by record office or other institution); English Region (where the archives are held); Dates of Archives (date ranges, or specific years)
· Extended Search
Search by Keyword and by the options as above, plus by Creator(s) of Archives; Catalogue Reference; Archives Category (broad subject, such as Family and Estate, or Business); A2A Theme (title of the project supplying the information, such as Bradfer-Lawrence)
· People, Places and Subjects
Search for whole catalogues which are particularly rich in information about specific individuals, families, places or subjects.

All search results show the hits in context, with the relevant reference number and a link to contact information – click on the repository name. Then to download a whole catalogue, click on that option (in blue at the top of the screen).

On-line Help is available at every stage.

The database is regularly updated as more catalogue information is processed.