August 2001 Genealogy Forum News

A2A Launch

Archival Treasures Accessible Online

Access to Archives (A2A), an online catalogue of the vast archival resources of England was launched yesterday at the Public Record Office.

This will be an invaluable source of information on our archival heritage, brought together for the first time in one place allowing researchers to locate documents with a few mouse clicks. It consists of catalogues describing the archives of local record offices, university archives and special repositories across the whole of England. These catalogues are the key to the archives they describe and will make locating specific documents a much easier task. They include links to contact details of the repositories where the archives are located

A2A's powerful search engine will enable researchers to locate documents across the country using a variety of methods including keywords. For example, a search for Christopher Marlowe will, among other things, locate a document relating to his assault in Canterbury in 1591; a foot and mouth keyword may lead you to a Bedfordshire Clerk of the Peace who was paid extra during a nineteenth century epidemic of the disease.

A2A is the result of a collaborative venture led by the Public Record Office, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and the British Library. A2A aims to provide an archive network for England by March 2002, when 8 million catalogue entries will be searchable online via a single web access point http://www.a2a.pro.gov.uk.

-Ends-

Notes

* A2A is part of the United Kingdom archive network. It is led by the Public Record Office, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, and the British Library, working with the National Council on Archives, Regional Archives Councils, the Association of Chief Archivists in Local Government, and the Society of Archivists.

* The A2A Central Team and infrastructure is funded by a grant from HM Treasury's Invest to Save Budget (ISB). Some individual A2A projects have received additional funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Cathy West
Assistant Press Officer
Public Record Office
0208 392 5277

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