A2A: The access to archives project intends to create an online national archives catalogue for England. This catalogue will bring together records of national, regional and local importance dating from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. The catalogue is being created at the Public Record Office and similar projects are being carried out in Wales and Scotland.

The database is updated regularly, and contains over three and a half million catalogue entries from over 180 different record offices and other repositories. The catalogues themselves vary in the amount of detail they describe.

The search engine is quick and flexible, allowing various restrictions, wildcards, and Boolean expressions. Results are listed by archive, from the archive with the largest number of hits downward. Clicking on an archive will then bring up the catalogue headings in which the search name or phrase appears, along with details of where the record is held, its reference number, and (when available) the date of the record. Researchers may view the table of contents for each catalogue, as well as bringing up the entire text, although this may take some time in the case of the longer catalogues.

Current A2A strengths include: the history of British India and relationships with the wider world beyond Europe; science and politics in the 19th and 20th centuries; local government and the administration of justice in the English counties in the 16th-20th centuries; and the history of transport. The archives are likely to be especially useful to members of the general public who are trying to trace their family history, and to students researching local history or particular individuals. The site provides special advice pages for both groups of researchers. Also provided are a host of information about the project; about its aims, infrastructure and methodology, types of records to be included, news, work in progress etc. The web site also maintains a list of links relating to the project, standards, UK sites and other sites of interest.

OAI record supplied by Humbul

Record returned via RDN ResourceFinder

<record>
<header>
<identifier>oai:rdn:humbul.ac.uk:716</identifier>
<datestamp>2002-08-27</datestamp>
</header>

<metadata>
<dc xmlns="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2000/10/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/dc.xsd">
<title>A2A : the access to archives project</title>
<creator>Sweet, Meg (Public Record Office) [Director]</creator>
<contributor>Hillyard, Matt (Public Record Office) [Programmer]</contributor>
<creator>Stockting, Bill (Public Record Office) [Editor]</creator>
<contributor>Kutler, Chris (Public Record Office) [Programmer]</contributor>
<creator>Skilton, Ray (Public Record Office) [Director]</creator>
<subject>History</subject>
<subject>History &amp; Philosophy of Science</subject>
<subject>Museums, Libraries, Archives</subject>
<description>A2A: The access to archives project intends to create an online national archives catalogue for England. This catalogue will bring together records of national, regional and local importance dating from the twelfth to the twentieth centuries. The catalogue is being created at the Public Record Office and similar projects are being carried out in Wales and Scotland. The database is updated regularly, and contains over three and a half million catalogue entries from over 180 different record offices and other repositories. The catalogues themselves vary in the amount of detail they describe. The search engine is quick and flexible, allowing various restrictions, wildcards, and Boolean expressions. Results are listed by archive, from the archive with the largest number of hits downward. Clicking on an archive will then bring up the catalogue headings in which the search name or phrase appears, along with details of where the record is held, its reference number, and (when available) the date of the record. Researchers may view the table of contents for each catalogue, as well as bringing up the entire text, although this may take some time in the case of the longer catalogues. Current A2A strengths include: the history of British India and relationships with the wider world beyond Europe; science and politics in the 19th and 20th centuries; local government and the administration of justice in the English counties in the 16th-20th centuries; and the history of transport. The archives are likely to be especially useful to members of the general public who are trying to trace their family history, and to students researching local history or particular individuals. The site provides special advice pages for both groups of researchers. Also provided are a host of information about the project; about its aims, infrastructure and methodology, types of records to be included, news, work in progress etc. The web site also maintains a list of links relating to the project, standards, UK sites and other sites of interest.</description>
<publisher>Public Record Office [Publisher]</publisher>
<publisher>Heritage Lottery Fund [Funder]</publisher>
<date>Last Modified: 2002-04-03</date>
<type>Bibliographic source</type>
<type>Database</type>
<type>Project home page</type>
<type>Research-related</type>
<type>Resource Guide/Gateway</type>
<type>Text Document</type>
<identifier>http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk/</identifier>
<language>eng</language>
<relation>[Is Part Of] Public Record Office : The National Archives. http://www.pro.gov.uk/</relation>
<relation>[References] Historical Manuscripts Commission. http://www.hmc.gov.uk/ ; The British Library. http://www.bl.uk/</relation>
<relation>[Requires] frames</relation>
<relation>[Requires] css</relation>
</dc>
</metadata>

<about>
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<creator>Institute of Historical Research (IHR)</creator>
<publisher>Humbul Humanities Hub. http://www.humbul.ac.uk/</publisher>
<language>en</language>
<source>http://www.humbul.ac.uk/output/full3.php?id=716</source>
<rights>This metadata record is only for use by the Resource Discovery Network and partners of the Humbul Humanities Hub. All other use is prohibited without permission.</rights>
</dc>
</about>
</record>