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Join our experts and special guests as we dig deep into the people behind the paper and bring fascinating stories from more than 11 million records to life. Discover tales of forbidden love, spies, protest and the everyday people of the past.

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The National Archives Podcast Series will remain live, but will not be updated with new content. For new podcasts from us head over to On the Record at The National Archives.

What are the opportunities, and challenges, of working collaboratively with archivists, academics and community groups?

The theme of this year’s Gerald Aylmer seminar was ‘Co-production and collaboration in the archives’. It was a day of discussion, analysis and learning, featuring a range of collaborative projects, as seen from the perspectives and experience of archivists, historians and community practitioners.

The Gerald Aylmer seminar is an annual symposium organised by The National Archives, the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London which brings together historians and archivists to discuss topics of mutual interest. Audio recordings from the day’s sessions are available to listen to below.

Session 4: Outcomes – what is the value of co-production?

It was a year when England won the World Cup and led the world in all aspects of popular culture, including pop music, fashion, and film. But it was also a time of sterling crises, wage and price freezes, and industrial strife. Contemporary specialist Mark Dunton looks at a nation caught between optimism and decline.

Professor Maggie Andrews discusses some of the key campaigns and concerns of the Women's Institute, from its origins in the First World War to the 1950s when, with half a million members, it was firmly established as the largest women's organisation in Britain.

Maggie is a Professor of Cultural History at the University of Worcester; she has published widely on women, domesticity and the home front in 20th century Britain.

In this talk medical historian Richard Barnett explores surgery during the 19th century, from the application of antisepsis to experiments with hypnosis. What happened in the early operations that used anaesthesia, and why were patients initially reluctant to agree to it?

Richard Barnett is a writer and broadcaster on the cultural history of science and medicine. He teaches on the Pembroke-Kings Programme in Cambridge, and in 2011 received one of the first Wellcome Trust Engagement Fellowships. His books include Medical London: City of Diseases: City of Cures, The Sick Rose (described by Will Self in the Guardian as 'superbly lucid and erudite') and Crucial Interventions: An Illustrated Treatise on the Principles and Practice of Nineteenth-Century Surgery, which was published by Thames & Hudson in cooperation with the Wellcome Collection in October 2015.

The Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) is the oldest surviving LGBT organisation in the UK. With more than 150 local branches and over 6,000 members, it has grown from a small regional committee lobbying for law reform with local MPs, into Britain's largest democratic gay organisation.

Playwright and journalist Peter Scott-Presland examines CHE's roots in Manchester, the traditions it grew out of, and the secret of its survival and ultimate success

This presentation discusses the role that the material and intellectual heritage of a community can play in shaping and reshaping its identity, along a historical continuum. With a brief history of the Ismaili Muslims in focus, the presentation highlights some of the challenges faced by the modern Ismaili community in conservation of, and engaging with their heritage, dating back over a millennium. The talk features the heritage conservation initiatives organised by the community, especially in digital media, together with some of the finest pieces from the institutional archives and collections.

Zehra Lalji is among the key contributors who created the heritage sites archive at the Institute of Ismaili Studies (IIS). At present, she serves the Institute as the Website Productions Officer, where she is leading a number of creative digital adaptations based on the Institute's published research.

Guy Burgess was a brilliant young Englishman who rose through the ranks of MI5 and MI6 during the Cold War. But as a member of 'The Cambridge Spies', he betrayed his country by regularly passing on highly sensitive secret documents to his Soviet handlers.

Historian Andrew Lownie, author of 'Stalin's Englishman: The Lives of Guy Burgess' - a Guardian Book of the Year and The Times Best Biography of the Year - will talk about how Burgess was able to avoid exposure as a traitor to his country through his trademark charisma and a network of powerful political connections.

Millions of soldiers were scarred by their experiences in the First World War trenches, but how new was what we now know as 'shell shock'? What treatments were on offer? And what happened after the men came home?

Writer and researcher Suzie Grogan reveals the First World War's legacy for soldiers and looks at the impact of the Spanish influenza outbreak, air raids on the Home Front, the trauma experienced by the survivors, and why the conflict still resonates into the 21st century.

Screenwriter Heidi Thomas shares the process of transforming Jennifer Worth's memoirs into the BBC period drama 'Call the Midwife', a TV series about midwives working in the East End of London in the late 1950s

Wax seals have been widely studied in terms of how they look, what they depict and what they might mean. But their physical characteristics and their importance as a method of communication are still not fully understood.

Our 'Wax Seals in Context' project investigated the material composition, manufacture and use of medieval wax seals, to understand how this important medium of communication was made. It used visual examination, material analysis and archival evidence.

The project focused on English royal and governmental seals of the 12th and 13th centuries.

We apologise for the variable sound quality of this podcast.

This year is the 800th anniversary of the granting of Magna Carta - King John's Great Charter. This charter guaranteed a number of vital rights and privileges and is still seen as being the foundation of many modern liberties. To mark this important anniversary, we are holding a range of events and exhibitions.

In this discussion chaired by Dr Sophie Ambler world experts come together to debate the importance of Magna Carta.

Nicholas Vincent, Professor of Medieval History at University of East Anglia, is an expert on 12th and 13th century English and European political and administrative history, and author of Magna Carta: A Very Short Introduction (OUP, 2012). He is the Honorary Secretary of the Pipe Roll Society.

Louise Wilkinson, Professor of Medieval History, Christ Church College Canterbury, is an expert on women in the age of Magna Carta, and 13th-century political and administrative history. She is the honorary General Editor of the Pipe Roll Society.

Paul Brand, Professor of English Legal History and Emeritus Fellow at All Souls Oxford, is an expert on English and Irish legal history, specialising in 13th-century law. He is the Honorary Treasurer of the Pipe Roll Society.

David Crook, formerly of The National Archives, is one of the leading experts on medieval records and forest law.

David Carpenter, Professor of Medieval History at King's College London, is an expert on the reign of Henry III (1216-72) and author of Magna Carta (Penguin, 2015).

What are the opportunities, and challenges, of working collaboratively with archivists, academics and community groups?

The theme of this year’s Gerald Aylmer seminar was ‘Co-production and collaboration in the archives’. It was a day of discussion, analysis and learning, featuring a range of collaborative projects, as seen from the perspectives and experience of archivists, historians and community practitioners.

The Gerald Aylmer seminar is an annual symposium organised by The National Archives, the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London which brings together historians and archivists to discuss topics of mutual interest. Audio recordings from the day’s sessions are available to listen to below.

Practices – what makes for effective co-production?

The preparations had been made well in advance. Now Britain was at war, and as the uniformed army prepared to face the enemy, a civilian army was mobilised at home. National Registration Officers, registrars, and 65,000 enumerators set about the huge task of registering every man, woman and child in a single weekend. It all went remarkably smoothly. This is the story of the 1939 Register for England and Wales, how it was taken, and what happened next.

Over a million Indian soldiers fought in the First World War, many travelling from remote villages in India to the muddy trenches of France and Flanders.

In her book For King and Another Country, writer and journalist, Shrabani Basu, delves into archives in Britain and narratives buried in villages in India and Pakistan. She recreates the War through the eyes of the Indians who fought it, and examines how the war led, ultimately, to the call for independence.

'Battle is not a game to plug into a computer but a piece of living history: messy, bloody and real.'

Richard Overy, Professor of History at the University of Exeter, Fellow of the British Academy and Member of the European Academy for Science and Arts, will discuss his latest book that distils the history of warfare into 100 momentous battles, recording epic moments that have shaped our world.

This presentation introduces the concept of Freedom of Memory, which Elizabeth is currently developing. The talk proposes a possible definition for this potential new human right and explain why such a Freedom is necessary at this point in time. The presentation identifies both the benefits and responsibilities arising from Freedom of Memory. This session will also encourage discussion with attendees to consider whether such a freedom is necessary, how it could be improved and in what fora this concept could fruitfully be developed.

Elizabeth Oxborrow-Cowan is a professional Archivist and qualified Management Consultant. She has run her own consultancy since 2003, working right across the archives sector throughout the UK as well as with policy bodies and professional organisations.

Stephen Twigge head of modern collections at The National Archives in conversation with Professor Christoper Andrew former official historian of MI5 and author of 'The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5', and Gill Bennett former chief historian of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, discussing one of the most famous spy cases in history along with some other highlights from the release of Security Service files to The National Archives in October 2015.

Professor Christopher Andrew, formerly official historian of MI5 and author of 'The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5', introduces key files from the release of Security Service files to The National Archives in October 2015.

Barbara Hepworth's life and work examined through records held by selected archives, including The National Archives and the Tate archives, marking the 40th anniversary of her death

Inga Fraser is Assistant Curator of Modern British Art 1890-1945 at Tate Britain and assistant to curators of the exhibition, Barbara Hepworth: Sculpture for a Modern World at Tate Britain. Briony Paxman is a modern records specialist at The National Archives.

Morwenna Roche and Bianca Rossmann from Tate Archives discuss their project to catalogue Barbara Hepworth's personal and professional papers, which provide a fascinating and rich insight into her life and work.

This podcast was recorded live in July 2015, as part of an afternoon of events at The National Archives, Kew.

We apologise for the variable sound quality of this podcast.

When Britain's Empire went to war in August 1914, rugby players were among the first men to volunteer. Leading from the front, they paid a high price. After four long years, Armistice came and it was time to play rugby again. In 1919, Twickenham saw the crowning of the first ever rugby world champions.

Hear award-winning author, Stephen Cooper, tell the story behind his new book, After the Final Whistle: The First Rugby World Cup and The First World War. Stephen is also the winner of Rugby Book of the Year 2013 with his previous First World War sporting work, The Final Whistle: The Great War in Fifteen Players

Our collection of First World War records is one of the largest in the world. It includes, among many other documents, service records, letters, diaries, maps and photographs. Part of Britain's folk memory of the First World War is of long lines of Tommies bravely going over the top, resolutely kicking and passing a football as they walked into a hail of machine gun fire.

Iain Adams, of the International Football Institute, looks at what really happened when the London Irish Rifles performed the first football charge at the Battle of Loos on 25 September 1915.

The International Football Institute is a research partnership between the University of Central Lancashire and the National Football Museum.

In 1939, on the eve of the Second World War, the British government introduced an Act that would allow them to gather vital information about the country's population. This information would inform their decisions on identity cards, rationing and conscription.

The night of 29 September 1939 was National Registration Night, and that evening, at 6:30pm, the Registrar General broadcast this message to the nation.

In our collection we have the script (catalogue reference RG 28/164) of the Registrar General's broadcast, read here by Gary Thorpe.

What are the opportunities, and challenges, of working collaboratively with archivists, academics and community groups?

The theme of this year’s Gerald Aylmer seminar was ‘Co-production and collaboration in the archives’. It was a day of discussion, analysis and learning, featuring a range of collaborative projects, as seen from the perspectives and experience of archivists, historians and community practitioners.

The Gerald Aylmer seminar is an annual symposium organised by The National Archives, the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London which brings together historians and archivists to discuss topics of mutual interest. Audio recordings from the day’s sessions are available to listen to below.

Session 2: Structures – forms of co-production

Emily Ward-Willis explains how to research the local history of an area, using the Mortlake Terrace shops in Kew as a case study.

The talk will show how you can use records held by The National Archives, and other archives and local studies centres, to research local history.

This talk was recorded live as part of the Know Your Place festival, a celebration of the heritage of Richmond upon Thames. We apologise for any intermittent reduction in sound quality.

Peter Doggett argues that from the birth of recording in the 19th century to the digital age, popular music has transformed the world in which we live. It has influenced our morals and social mores; it has transformed our attitudes towards race and gender, religion and politics.

Peter Doggett has been writing about popular music and cultural history for more than 30 years. He is the author of Electric shock: From the gramophone to the iPhone - 125 years of pop music, his history of popular music and its impact on everyday life from 1890 to the present day.

This podcast was recorded live as part of the Writer of the month series, which broadens awareness of historical records and their uses for writers.

The 1930s saw a resurgence of interest in local knowledge and traditions, and intense debate about how it might be possible to 'go modern' while honouring the past. Alexandra Harris looks back on her research for Romantic Moderns, remembering how she followed modern British artists and writers as they went 'on pilgrimage in England'. She also shows how that pilgrimage led her far back into Roman and Anglo-Saxon history in a quest to find out how the English weather has been differently imagined across the centuries.

Alexandra Harris is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool, a BBC New Generation Thinker, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She won the Guardian First Book Award and a Somerset Maugham Award for her first book, Romantic Moderns: English writers, artists and the imagination, from Virginia Woolf to John Piper. Her literary history of English weather will be published this autumn.

Ross Mahoney's talk is based on sources ranging from operational records held by The National Archives to some of the personal recollections found at other archival institutions and in the memoirs of retired officers. By bringing these together he highlights the difficulties faced by the RAF as it sought to innovate and adapt to the strategic, operational and tactical challenges that it confronted during the inter-war years.

Ross Mahoney is the resident Aviation Historian at Royal Air Force Museum. His research interests include air power history, theory and doctrine, military leadership, military culture, military innovation, and the history of professional military education. In 2011, he was made a West Point Fellow in Military History at the United States Military Academy.

Professor Christopher Andrew, formerly official historian of MI5 and author of 'The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5', introduces key files from the release of Security Service files to The National Archives in August 2015.

By taking two men who fought at Waterloo and exploring how different records bring their careers to life, Carole Divall demonstrates the hidden stories that can be found within army records.

Carole Divall is a former teacher and now researches, writes and lectures on the Revolutionary Wars.

Drawing on fresh new interviews with Dunkirk veterans - soldiers and sailors - plus unseen private correspondence and diaries, author Sinclair McKay delves into a pivotal historical moment and beneath the myth. The story of how a raggle-taggle flotilla of small boats and paddle steamers set out to rescue the British army from the most formidable war machine the world had ever seen is now a national legend. But what really happened during those nine days and nights in 1940?

Sinclair McKay is the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Bletchley Park and The Secret Listeners, as well as histories of Hammer films, the James Bond films, and Rambling.

Jenny Uglow talks about her book, In These Times: Living in Britain through Napoleon's Wars, 1793-1815.

This podcast was recorded live as part of the Writer of the month series, which broadens awareness of historical records and their uses for writers.

Nadia Atia is Lecturer in World Literature at Queen Mary, University of London. Her research examines the literature and cultural history of the First World War outside Europe. Her work explores how ideologies of race and empire shaped the ways in which British travellers, archaeologists, servicemen and women from different classes and professional backgrounds interacted with and represented the region now known as Iraq, in the early twentieth-century. In particular, she examines their interactions with the Indian, African, Afro-Caribbean, Egyptian or Chinese workers and military personnel who played such a crucial role in the war, but whose presence is not a familiar one in many accounts of the First World War.

Ten months into the First World War and the feared onslaught on London by Germany's fleet of airships - Zeppelins - had failed to materialise. There was sympathy for those killed or injured in air raids elsewhere, but these were far away and had little impact on Londoners. Then, shortly after 11pm on a Monday night in May 1915, all that changed…Using documents held at The National Archives, interspersed with personal stories of those who experienced that night, Ian Castle explores those terrifying 20 minutes when, for the very first time, London civilians found themselves on the front line.

Ian Castle is author of two books detailing Germany's air campaign against the capital in the First World War - London 1914-17: The Zeppelin Menace and London 1917-18: The Bomber Blitz. He also runs a website covering all of the First World War air raids.

What are the opportunities, and challenges, of working collaboratively with archivists, academics and community groups?

The theme of this year’s Gerald Aylmer seminar was ‘Co-production and collaboration in the archives’. It was a day of discussion, analysis and learning, featuring a range of collaborative projects, as seen from the perspectives and experience of archivists, historians and community practitioners.

The Gerald Aylmer seminar is an annual symposium organised by The National Archives, the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London which brings together historians and archivists to discuss topics of mutual interest. Audio recordings from the day’s sessions are available to listen to below.

Session 1: Three questions for the day

Adam Nicolson discusses his research into his forthcoming book about Wordsworth's and Coleridge's year in Somerset. He used documents in The National Archives which relate to the Home Office's surveillance of the poets in August 1797. Some suspected they might be agents for a French invasion.

This podcast was recorded live as part of the Writer of the month series, which broadens awareness of historical records and their uses for writers. Writer of the month is sponsored by HistoryToday.

Adam Nicolson has worked as a journalist and columnist on the Sunday Times, the Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Telegraph and writes regularly for National Geographic Magazine and Granta, where he is a contributing editor.

Julie Halls discusses design history and material culture as a potential area for research.

Arts and Inspiration Day is a free event for students thinking of future PhD study which introduces the research potential of The National Archives' collection. This event was held on 17 November 2014.

Simon Demissie looks at Propaganda through the records held at The National Archives, including the wartime posters in INF 3 and the 1970s 'Protect and Survive' Public Information Films.

Arts and Inspiration Day is a free event for students thinking of future PhD study which introduces the research potential of The National Archives' collection. This event was held on 17 November 2014.

Watch the Public Information Films, Action after warnings and Casualties, produced by Richard Taylor Cartoons, with chilling narration by Patrick Allen.

Rose Mitchell reveals the maps and plans held at The National Archives.

Arts and Inspiration Day is a free event for students thinking of future PhD study which introduces the research potential of The National Archives' collection. This event was held on 17 November 2014.

Jo Pugh reveals the music, lyrics and poetry lurking in diverse records, from Thomas Byrd's pupil, John Bull to songs from Second World War prisoner of war camps.

Arts and Inspiration Day is a free event for students thinking of future PhD study which introduces the research potential of The National Archives' collection. This event was held on 17 November 2014.

Researcher Tommy Norton introduces some of the 30 documents featured in the BBC 2 ten-part television series, Portillo's State Secrets. He also talks about the background to the series.

Originally a journalist on local newspapers and magazines, Tommy spent four years in The National Archives' press office. He is now an independent reesearcher.

Helen Castor in conversation, discussing her new book, Joan of Arc: A history. Find out more about Helen Castor on her website.

This podcast was recorded live as part of the Writer of the month series, which broadens awareness of historical records and their uses for writers. We apologise for any intermittent reduction in sound quality.

The National Archives holds a vast collection of railway related material, a legacy passed down by hundreds of railway companies which operated in all corners of the UK from 1825 to 1947. Much of this material provides opportunities for local and family historians to discover something new about the history of their ancestors and the areas in which they lived. This talk provides an overview of the railway records held here at Kew, and explores the different sources for tracing railway workers amongst these records.

Chris Heather is currently the Transport Records Specialist in the Advice and Records Knowledge department at The National Archives. He has a particular interest in railway records and family history. Previously he specialised in records of criminals and transportation to Australia.

Rapid Response Collecting is a new strand to the V&A's collecting activity - one that is responsive to global events, situating design in immediate relation to moments of political, economic and social change. Corinna Gardner explores how an IKEA toy wolf, a set of Christian Louboutin shoes in five shades of 'nude', the world's first 3D-printed gun, the mobile game, Flappy Bird, and an all-female LEGO set raise questions of globalisation, mass manufacture, demography and the law.

Corinna Gardner is curator of contemporary product design at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Corinna has worked with colleagues to introduce rapid response collecting as a new strand to the museum's collecting activities. Corinna is also co-curating the forthcoming V&A exhibition, All of This Belongs to You, opening on 1 April 2015.

Vanishing for the Vote tells the story of what happened on census night, 2 April 1911. Despite decades of campaigning, no woman had won the right to vote. Suffragettes urged women to boycott the census, proclaiming 'No vote, no census!'. This talk is based on the family census schedules which illustrate the wide diversity of suffrage campaigners - those who complied with the census and those who daringly boycotted.

Jill Liddington is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Leeds. Her first book, One Hand Tied Behind Us (Virago, 1978), soon became a suffrage classic. Her most recent history, Vanishing for the Vote (MUP, 2014), is based on the The National Archives' census schedules released in 2009.

We apologise for the poor sound quality of this live recording.

This talk was part of The National Archives' Diversity Week, a week designed to highlight the ongoing work across the organisation surrounding the representation of diverse histories.

What are the opportunities, and challenges, of working collaboratively with archivists, academics and community groups?

The theme of this year’s Gerald Aylmer seminar was ‘Co-production and collaboration in the archives’. It was a day of discussion, analysis and learning, featuring a range of collaborative projects, as seen from the perspectives and experience of archivists, historians and community practitioners.

The Gerald Aylmer seminar is an annual symposium organised by The National Archives, the Royal Historical Society and the Institute of Historical Research, University of London which brings together historians and archivists to discuss topics of mutual interest. Audio recordings from the day’s sessions are available to listen to below.

Welcome and introduction

A culture shift is taking place in the Wellcome Library's Special Collections team. Driven by a growing realisation that past acquisition policies have left patient perspectives on health and well-being woefully under-represented, they have started to re-evaluate what kinds of material may constitute an 'archive'. Focusing on an exciting, non-traditional 'archive' acquired earlier this year, Helen Wakely reflects on the issues and opportunities that such challenging collections present to the Library.

Helen Wakely is Archive Project Manager at the Wellcome Library. She has responsibility for sensitivity assessment and access issues in the library's Special Collections, and takes a special interest in promoting public engagement with its archive collections, particularly in the area of food history.

Antonia Fraser's memoir describes growing up in the 1930s and 1940s but its real concern is with her growing love of History. The fascination began as a child - and developed into an enduring passion; as she writes, 'for me, the study of History has always been an essential part of the enjoyment of life'.

Antonia Fraser is the prize-winning author of many widely acclaimed historical works which have been international bestsellers. She was made DBE in 2011 for services to literature.

This podcast was recorded live at our January 2015 'Writer of the month' event.

In the nineteenth century, Britain led the world in the production of illustrated books and magazines. By the 1890s, commercial artists often drew for both magazine publishers and advertisers, which gave a continuity of style. Some well-known 21st century brands were already spending heavily on advertising in the 1900s; they understood the value of advertising. And when war broke out in 1914, companies were quick to seize the opportunities which the war offered. They searched for new markets to replace their lost German trade, and invented new products. This talk outlines how the First World War changed the face of advertising.

Amanda-Jane Doran was the archivist at Punch magazine for 13 years. She is an expert in 19th century illustrated books and magazines, and she curated the exhibition Charles Stewart: Black and White Gothic, at the Royal Academy.

Andrew McCarthy directed the documentary film Toys For The Boys, which told the story of how Hew Kennedy built a full-size working replica of a medieval trebuchet (siege machine).

Andrew and Amanda co-wrote The huns have got my gramophone: Advertisements from The Great War (Bodleian Library, 2014).