Using Discovery, The National Archives' online catalogue

Discover top tips for using Discovery, our online catalogue. Within half an hour you will come away with all of the tools needed to make the most of the catalogue for your research, whether you are a new user or an experienced researcher.
Discovery holds more than 32 million descriptions of records held by The National Archives and more than 2,500 archives across the country. Over 9 million records are available for download.
The National Archives is the official archive of the UK government, England and Wales. We are home to 1000 years of history and are the guardians of some of the world’s most iconic documents from the Domesday Book to Downing Street tweets. We believe that archives are for everyone because they are about everyone, past, present and future. Our collections contain ideas, language and imagery from original records which reflect historical viewpoints and attitudes. Some may be considered offensive. However, we think it important to show them here as accurate representations of the record to help us understand the past.