Year 11 History - The National Archives

5/12/2024

In History, Year 11 has been learning about Migrants in Britain from 800 AD to the present day, from the Vikings to immigrants coming over the channel. However, recently, the emphasis has been on the 1960s and 1970s race riots in London, specifically Notting Hill.

Therefore, to consolidate our learning in this period of the migrants course, the history department planned two visits (5 December and 10 December) to The National Archives, Kew, to look at first-hand evidence spanning from the original passenger list from the 1948 Empire Windrush (that carried Caribbean migrants to England to rebuild the heavily-bombed cities) to police and court reports concerning the Mangrove Nine marches twenty odd years on that were targeted at showing police injustice against the Caribbean community of Notting Hill.

During our visit, we discovered that:

• The archive itself holds roughly fourteen million sources that tell the story of British history via state-acquired evidence such as reports and charters.

• Documents have a specific timestamp of release depending on what they entail (for instance, a Census report will usually be released for public viewing one hundred years after it has been introduced to the Archive).

• The sources in question are stored on eight floors of rolling shelves, each floor with limited light exposure to decrease the risk of damaging fragile files.

• Documents concerning the Cold War have not yet been released.

• The Archive is a government-led facility, therefore it is free for public use. The vicinity is usually used by either historians researching for projects or members of the general public looking up family history.

We were taken through the thought process of analysing varying sources by two brilliant archivists, with workshops specialising in more modern migrant groups coming to Britain; this will become very helpful for our exams later this academic year where these techniques will be tested.

The trip also reminded me of the vital importance of gathering evidence from the time of recording; it is quite easy to be swept away by modern interpretations of historical events. However, we must look back at the past to help create a clearer picture of said events, as well as to aid in the construction of the future.

This was better put by the great Cicero when he stated that ‘to be ignorant of the past is to be forever a child’. This idea also will help those in English I feel, since context is vital for constructing a greater judgement on a character or novel as a whole.

However, we digress…

Fundamentally, I recommend anyone who is interested in history and how it is recorded today to go to the institution; it was the first time I had been there and will not be my last. It certainly made for a grand day out!