National Archives, Kew - free digital downloads at present

[whole diary]

[grahame]

In case Coffee Shop members and guests hadn't seen this ...

https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/digital-downloads/

Free access to digital records

Friday 24 April 2020

We are making digital records available on our website free of charge for as long as our Kew site is closed to visitors.

Registered users will be able to order and download up to ten items at a time, to a maximum of 50 items over 30 days. The limits are there to try and help manage the demand for content and ensure the availability of our digital services for everyone.

To access the service and download for free, users will be required to:

Register/sign in to their Discovery account before adding items to their basket (maximum ten items per basket)

Abide by the terms of our fair use policy

Complete the order process to receive a download link, which will remain active for 30 days. (The link will also be saved in ‘Your orders’ in your account for 30 days)

Our usual terms of use still apply – digital copies can be downloaded for non-commercial private use and educational purposes only, and bulk downloads and web crawlers are not permitted.

There's a huge quantity of records at Kew with just a small proportion scanned and available digitally - Lisa's experience is that document she wants to see almost inevitably have to be found in the paper archives ... they can be ordered online but it's a two step process which involves finding the size / number of pages, quoting a price, paying, then waiting for it to be digisited.  Once someone has paid for a document to be scanned it goes into the digital record.

[stuving]

There's a huge quantity of records at Kew with just a small proportion scanned and available digitally - Lisa's experience is that document she wants to see almost inevitably have to be found in the paper archives ... they can be ordered online but it's a two step process which involves finding the size / number of pages, quoting a price, paying, then waiting for it to be digisited.  Once someone has paid for a document to be scanned it goes into the digital record.

The main things I've paid for and downloaded are wills and WW1 records such as battalion diaries. These are not expensive, so dropping the fee isn't such a big deal (unless you had loads on for list). TNA provide this list:

    First and Second World War records, including medal index cards
    Military records, including unit war diaries
    Royal and Merchant Navy records, including Royal Marine service records
    Wills from the jurisdiction of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
    Migration records, including aliens’ registration cards and naturalisation case papers
    20th century Cabinet Papers and Security Service files
    Domesday Book