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A record archive at Kew

Order documents in advance of your visit

You can pre-order documents online or by phone, but to view any original document at The National Archives you must hold a Readers Ticket. 

 

Online orders

You can order up to three documents in advance of your visit to The National Archives using the online order form.

Orders need to be placed before 17:00 on the working day before your visit if documents are stored at Kew, and before 11:00 three normal working days before your visit if they are stored off-site (see below).

We cannot guarantee that everything you order will be available. You may wish to give us three alternative references just in case.

 

Telephone orders

Alternatively, you can call us on + 44 (0) 20 8392 5200 and order documents over the telephone. Please have the following information ready:

• Reader's name
• Reader's Ticket number (if you have one)
• The proposed date of your visit
• A maximum of three preferred document references
• A maximum of three alternative document references should your preferred choices not be available (optional)
• Your daytime telephone number

 

Bulk Orders

If you intend to order a large number of documents from the same department and series (for example, all documents from FO 371) you can pre-order using the bulk order form.

Please allow at least two working days’ notice for a bulk order. You will not be able to keep a bulk order for more than two days and can only make one such order at a time.

Please note - this service is only available to readers with a current Reader's Ticket and we cannot guarantee that everything you order will be available. There is no bulk order service for Saturdays.

 

Documents stored off-site

Some documents are kept at a separate storage facility in Cheshire www.deepstore.com.

You can check which documents are stored off-site in the Catalogue.

If the documents you are ordering are stored in Cheshire, please let us know.  Requests for off-site documents are made available within three working days, if ordered before 11:00.

As with documents stored at The National Archives, those stored off-site can be ordered online or by telephone.

 

Handling documents

The material we hold is precious and some documents are very fragile.  Please help us ensure their continued survival by following the basic principles when handling original documents.