UK's National Archives under threat from 'dumbing down', warns researcher
The National Archives are being "dumbed down", stripped of funding and are in danger of being turned into little more than a "glorified family history centre", a researcher claimed yesterday.
The records at Kew, west London, have provided some of the best insight into past political thinking, fears about security through the ages and quirks of royal behaviour.
However, Ruth Wilcock, who has worked there for 34 years, said she fears that the Archives are being compromised because of financial restraints.
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, she said: "Public access to records at Kew are to be cut by one day a week, staffing levels slashed, many documents on microfilm withdrawn and other services eroded."
She said there was considerable objection when the Family Records Centre moved from central London to Kew in 2008, over-burdening an already stretched building.
"The National Archives are in danger of becoming a glorified family history centre," she said. "There is nothing wrong with family history but that is not the National Archives' most important function.
"Their own website says they are 'the UK government's official archive, containing almost 1,000 years of history'."
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)
The records at Kew, west London, have provided some of the best insight into past political thinking, fears about security through the ages and quirks of royal behaviour.
However, Ruth Wilcock, who has worked there for 34 years, said she fears that the Archives are being compromised because of financial restraints.
In a letter to The Daily Telegraph, she said: "Public access to records at Kew are to be cut by one day a week, staffing levels slashed, many documents on microfilm withdrawn and other services eroded."
She said there was considerable objection when the Family Records Centre moved from central London to Kew in 2008, over-burdening an already stretched building.
"The National Archives are in danger of becoming a glorified family history centre," she said. "There is nothing wrong with family history but that is not the National Archives' most important function.
"Their own website says they are 'the UK government's official archive, containing almost 1,000 years of history'."