Records

The Social History Archive provides access to a continuously expanding collection of British, Irish, and former Empire historical records, with new documents added every week. 

Our holdings currently include more than 2,850 record sets, comprising over 473 million images and 3.6 billion transcribed entries, and spanning the thirteenth century to 2025. Together, these records cover census returns, military records, directories, government papers, parish registers, and much more. Our high-quality digitised records are sourced from both national institutions and hundreds of local archives and repositories, including The National Archives and many other key partners. 

Our records offering is continuously growing, not only through the addition of new record sets but also through ongoing updates of images and transcribed entries to existing record sets. Extensive indexing and bespoke search fields enable researchers to locate material with precision and make the most of their research. 

These records cover an extraordinary range of subjects, including demography and prosopography, education and labour, Empire and decolonisation, institutions and welfare, crime and protest, local history, migration and movement, media and communication, religion and dissent, warfare and conflict, women’s history, and more. 

This breadth makes them an indispensable resource for research across the humanities, social sciences, and beyond. They are equally valuable in teaching, offering students the chance to work directly with primary sources, compare perspectives, and sharpen their skills in historical analysis. 

The Social History Archive’s Records Primary Source Series are also available for UK institutions via the JISC Digital Archival Collections Group Purchasing Scheme.

We offer a range of access models, from targeted access via our records Primary Source Series collections, to more comprehensive coverage through our All Records package or alongside the archive’s newspaper content as as part of our All Access product.

The All Records product and All Access product are available only as an annual subscription.

A full list of our records holdings can be provided by contacting us below.