Oxford researchers now have access to a trial of Digital Downloads from The National Archives (UK).
The National Archives (TNA) is the official archive of the UK Government and for England and Wales, collecting documents dating back over 1,000 years. Digital Downloads provides full access to TNA’s digitised collection of millions of historical records relevant for medieval to modern history. Apparently 5% of the TNA records have been digitised so far, with more being added.
The collections are very strong in military and naval history (e.g. service records), wills from 1384-1858, and migration history (e.g. alien’s registration cards 1918-1957).
Currently accessible collections include:
- Aliens’ registration cards 1918-1957
- British Army medal index cards 1914-1920
- British Army nurses’ service records 1914-1918
- British Army war diaries 1914-1922
- Country court death duty registers 1796-1811
- Durham Home Guard 1939-1945
- Famous wills 1552-1854
- French muster rolls from the Battle of Trafalgar 1805
- Household Cavalry soldiers’ service records 1799-1920
- Irish maps c1558-c1610
- Logs and journals of ships of exploration 1757-1904
- Looted art 1939-1961
- Merchant seamen’s campaign medal records 1914-1918
- Merchant seamen’s campaign medal records 1939-1945
- Merchant shipping movement cards 1939-1945
- Middlesex military service appeal tribunal 1916-1918
- Naturalisation case papers 1801-1871
- Prisoner of war interview reports 1914-1918
- Recommendations for military honours and awards 1935-1990
- Royal Air Force combat reports 1939-1945
- Royal Air Force officers’ service records 1918-1919
- Royal Air Force operations record books 1939-1945
- Royal Flying Corps airmen
- Royal Marines’ service records 1842-1925
- Royal Naval Air Service officers
- Royal Naval Air Service officers’ service records 1906-1918
- Royal Naval Air Service ratings
- Royal Naval Division service records 1914-1919
- Royal Naval Reserve officers’ service records 1862-1964
- Royal Naval Reserve personnel
- Royal Naval Reserve service records 1860-1955
- Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve service records 1903-1922
- Royal Navy officers’ service record cards and files c1840-c1920
- Royal Navy officers’ service records 1756-1931
- Royal Navy ratings’ service records 1853-1928
- Royal Navy unpaid pensions 1830-1860: claims by next of kin
- Sir Anthony Eden’s private office papers 1935-1946
- Victoria Cross registers 1856-1944
- Victorian prisoners’ photograph albums 1872-1873
- Wills 1384-1858
- Wills of Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel 1786-1882
- Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps service records 1917-1920
- Women’s Royal Air Force service records 1918-1920
- Women’s Royal Naval Service personnel
Collections which will display on the site but which will not be accessible to anybody who does not have Ancestry.com or findmypast accounts, include:
- Alien arrivals
- Alien entry books
- British Army and militia 1760-1915
- Census records
- Crime, prisons and punishment 1770-1935
- First World War soldiers’ service and pension records
- Prisoners of war: selected records 1715-1945
- Railway employment records 1833-1956
- Royal Air Force airmen service records 1912-1939
The trial ends on 17 November. Feedback should be sent to isabel.holowaty@bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
Also of interest:
Ancestry.com freely available in Oxford Central Library (& other public libraries)