Our research projects blog

Most recent posts

• Archive Rambler: Lynmouth and Lynton

  

  New

  Published

  27 July 2026

  Continuing her exploration into the combination of archival research and walking, Giorgia Tolfo sets off on the next leg of her journey.

• Recovering histories of Scandinavian seafarers in the Prize Papers

  

  Published

  4 June 2026

  On a three-month placement at the National Archives, Kaia Sollie explored records about Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian seafaring in the seventeenth century.

• Exploring archival value: Does the ‘perfect parchment’ exist?

  

  Published

  18 May 2026

  Olivia Page looks back on a recent conservation workshop that explored the sensory and physical qualities of historical materials.

• The Many Lives of Cardboard

  

  Published

  13 May 2026

  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.

• The architectural history of postcolonial West African universities

  

  Published

  11 May 2026

  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.

• Clues from the high seas: tracing Suriname’s textile histories in the Prize Papers

  

  Published

  27 April 2026

  Viveca Mellegard explains how she used scientific analysis to investigate textile samples seized from a ship sailing from Suriname in 1795.

• Addressing offensive terminology in our catalogue

  

  Published

  7 April 2026

  In this blog, Andrew Janes explores how The National Archives team is addressing offensive terminology within our catalogue descriptions.

• Subhas Chandra Bose and India at war

  

  Published

  9 February 2026

  This blog explores the complex history of India’s role as part of the British Empire between 1939–45, during the Second World War.

• Pollution in the Archive

  

  Published

  16 January 2026

  In this blog, Heather Craddock and Giorgia Tolfo reflect on the 2025 ‘Talking records: Pollution in the Archive’ symposium held at The National Archives.

• Archive Rambler: from Westward Ho! to Bideford

  

  Published

  12 January 2026

  Giorgia Tolfo continues her trip along the South West Coast Path, exploring the rewards of combining archival research and walking.

• Archive Rambler: from Hartland to Clovelly

  

  Published

  12 January 2026

  How can archival research deepen the experience of hiking, and vice versa? Giorgia Tolfo finds out on a trip down the South West Coast Path.

• Developing an enhanced dataset for the history of photography

  

  Published

  2 October 2025

  Researchers Giorgia Tolfo and Katherine Howells reflect on their recent project focusing on the metadata in our photographic copyright collections.