Saul Nassé – Chief Executive and Keeper of The National Archives
Welcome to ‘A Year in Archives’. Since I started at the National Archives in July 2024, I have enjoyed visiting a variety of archives, learning from our partners and seeing the breadth of projects that the sector is delivering. I’m looking forward to shaping The National Archives’ long-term plans and supporting the whole sector in its continued efforts to make collections more accessible, impactful and enriching.
The case studies in this publication hail from many areas across England. They show the commitment and ingenuity that enable archives to preserve and open up all records of our collective experiences. By illustrating great archival practice across ten themes, I hope these examples will inspire you and shed light on a very successful year for archives.
Tina Morton – Head of Archive Sector Leadership
2024 was another busy year for The National Archives, which saw us build upon our offer to the archives sector. For example, having secured a £5million investment from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, we have expanded the Archives Revealed funding programme with our partners, the Pilgrim Trust and the Wolfson Foundation. For the first time, Archives Revealed offered grants of up to £150,000 for large-scale consortium projects, recognising the remarkable, collaborative aspirations that archive services have for their collections.
This year we have also taken steps to co-create the Government’s new strategic vision for archives, following a commission from The Department for Culture, Media and Sport. I want to thank all the archive professionals across England who attended our roundtables and completed our online consultation to provide their invaluable feedback. We are excited to launch a new, shared vision for the sector in 2025, encouraging us all to continue collaborating, innovating and advocating for the value of archives.