Inclusion projects
In addition to providing public services and conditions of employment that are appropriate to the needs of a diverse society, The National Archives has a number of initiatives to tackle barriers to involvement, widening participation and inclusion to a range of audiences.
Caribbean heritage
Your Caribbean Heritage was a catalogue project run by The National Archives and supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Between 2004 and 2007 over 130,000 items of correspondence in the Colonial Office series relating to the British West Indies and the wider region were catalogued. The project is now being continued by a group of volunteers all with a particular interest in the region. The group has shed light on issues, such as forced and free migration within and outside the region, the rights of free people and family relations between the free and enslaved.
Migration histories
Moving Here explores, records and illustrates why people came to England over the last 200 years and what their experiences were and continue to be. The aim of the project is to overcome barriers to the direct involvement of minority ethnic groups in recording and documenting their own history of migration. It offers free access, for personal and educational use, to an online catalogue of versions of original material related to migration history from local, regional and national archives, libraries and museums. It also has educational resources designed for schools to encourage the teaching of migration history within the National Curriculum.
Web accessibility
Prisoner 4099 was run in partnership with teachers, youth workers and blind and visually impaired students. Using records from the archives, the project aimed to create an educational resource that was fully accessible to those who worked on the project. The resultant website won a Jodi Award for web accessibility.
LGBT history
Out there is a partnership project between The London Metropolitan Archives and The National Archives. The portal aims to help researchers identify archive resources for the study of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) history.
