Accredited Archives

Accredited Archives

The Archive Service Accreditation is the UK wide standard scheme for archive services. Established in 2013 and operated by the National Archives, the scheme is open to any archive service that meets the eligibility criteria

The standard defines good practice and identifies agreed standards, thereby encouraging and supporting development. It replaces The National Archives' Standard for Record Repositories and its self assessment programme for local authority archives in England and Wales. The scheme offers a badge of external recognition and endorsement of their service.

Archive Service Accreditation is central to the Archives for the 21st Century priority to develop more effective services and increase sustainability within the sector.

The standard defines good practice and identifies agreed standards, thereby encouraging and supporting development. The standard is aligned with other relevant quality assurance schemes, improvement tools and data gathering processes.

Archive Service Accreditation:

  • is a UK wide quality standard which offers a benchmark for gauging performance, recognising achievement and driving improvement with the archives sector
  • raises the profile of archive services by building confidence and credibility both within the parent organisations and externally, through increased awareness and understanding
  • helps archive services adapt and respond to user needs and interests, and develop their workforce
  • encourages partnership working within and between organisations, by helping archive services to examine how best to deliver their services
  • provides a robust framework for forward planning to improve procedures and policy and reduce organisational risk
  • is a badge of external recognition which demonstrates quality services
  • encourages professionalism in the archives sector

It is aimed at organisations that hold archive collections, whatever their constitution, and covers both private and public sector archives. It enables archive services to review and develop their policies, plans and procedures against a UK wide standard which has been developed by the archives sector, identifying strengths of the archive service and providing a framework to improve areas of weakness.

Over 20 archives have already been accredited and more are going through the process to be assessed each year. You can use the accreditation to filter a search by selecting it in the Accreditations section of the Search List Filters.

Venues with this Accreditation

Jersey Archive was established as part of Jersey Heritage in 1993. The Archive is the Island’s national repository holding archival material from public institutions as well as private businesses and individuals.

Free admission.

The Richard Burton Archives is the corporate memory and archive repository of Swansea University and holds material of local, regional and national significance. The Archives selects, preserves and makes accessible to all the records of historical value created or acquired by the University.

Housed in the west wing of the Bishop’s Palace is a modern library and archive facility in which we preserve many thousands of books and documents – most of them rare or unique - and make them available to people.

Today’s railway represents 200 years of engineering inspiration, innovation and determination; the work that Network Rail does today is the next chapter in this astounding story. 

The Online Archive

Our collections have outstanding collections in the fields of archives, art, science and technology, ethnography, archaeology, military and social history, maritime history and natural sciences. Our art, natural science, archives and science and industry collections have been awarded Designated status by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in recognition of their national importance.

Lothian Health Services Archive holds the historically important local records of NHS hospitals and other health-related material.

We collect, preserve and catalogue these records and promote them to increase understanding of the history of health and for the benefit of all.

We are home to an extraordinary range of documents, images, maps, films and books about London. On this site you can find out about the archives we hold, and get practical advice on how to use them.

Falkirk Archives is located in the oak-panelled Victorian library of Callendar House, and is the place to come to find out about the history of Falkirk district or to start your family history research. Local archives and photographs are held here, and may be viewed by the public.

Glamorgan Archives collects, preserves and makes accessible documents relating to the geographical area it serves, as detailed in its collection policy, and maintains the corporate memory of its constituent authorities

We can help you to....
- trace the history of your family, your town, village or house
- carry out research for a school, college or evening course

The Media Archive for Central England (MACE) is the screen archive for the Midlands.

Connect with the culture and history of the Midlands through film, videotape and digital moving images. View over 4,000 clips from a library of 45,000 titles.

Curious to find out more about your family history? Your house? Your town or village? Your industrial history? 

The National Archives looks after the UK government’s documents. It holds records dating back nearly 1,000 years from the time of William the Conqueror’s Domesday Book to the present day.

Located in Port Sunlight, the historic home of Unilever in the UK, the Unilever archives are amongst the most important collections of business records in the world.

Touch History at The Hive

Come to Explore the Past at The Hive and touch history on our multi-touch table which showcases the resources we have for you to research and enjoy in the building and which highlights heritage sites throughout Worcestershire.

Home to over 100 collections of rare books and archives on the history of the University, Bradford, Yorkshire, history, politics, literature, archaeology and much more, our best-known being the

St Bartholemew's is the largest NHS Trust in the UK serving a population of 2.5 million in east London and beyond and our hospitals have long and important histories.

The Norfolk Record Office holds millions of documents, filling almost 10 miles of shelves. They have been created by a variety of organizations and people, past and present, range in date from the eleventh century to the twenty-first and relate to every town and parish in Norfolk.

Lancashire Archives collects unique, historic records that reflect Lancashire and Lancashire life - past and present. These cover church registers, historic images of Lancashire, the North West Sound Archive, police records and old maps of the region.

Arrangements may be made for groups to visit Lancashire Archives

Enriching our future by preserving our past

Lincolnshire Archives was established as a county service in 1948 with the bringing together of the records collected by the Lindsey, Kesteven and Holland County Councils, and the Lincoln Diocesan Record Office. The Archives service was known as the Lincolnshire Archives Committee.

The Newsam Library and Archives holds extensive collections of current and historical materials on education and related areas of social science.

In addition to supporting the work of staff and students at the UCL Institute of Education, it welcomes enquiries from all scholars, researchers, and others in the community with an interest in education.

We gather, keep and share historic archive collections relating to Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire - and local and family history resources relating to Gloucestershire.

The archives are kept at our main Alvin Street site in Gloucester and you can use them in our public research room.

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