Stories from the collection

This photo shows an African American student choir who toured the UK and whose performances were attended by Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister.

Over three days in April 1981, violence broke out in Brixton, London between young people and the Metropolitan Police. What did the inquiry about it find out?

This parchment records John Blanke, a Black Tudor in the royal court, asking King Henry VIII for a pay rise and a promotion in his role as a trumpeter.

Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875–1912) was a trailblazing British composer and conductor from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Sarah Parker Remond (1826–1894) fought for a more equal world as an abolitionist and suffrage supporter. Why and how did she apply for British citizenship?

Singer and broadcaster Evelyn Dove (1902–1987) achieved a number of firsts including, in 1925, becoming the first woman of African heritage on BBC Radio.

These Victorian railway wheel models demonstrate the diverse, and often unexpected, character of exhibits preserved in court records at The National Archives.

This photo shows an African American student choir who toured the UK and whose performances were attended by Queen Victoria and the Prime Minister.

This is one of hundreds of letters in police files claiming to have been written by the infamous Whitechapel Murderer – otherwise known as 'Jack the Ripper'.

These record books reveal the substantial dangers to passengers – and for those operating trains – in the first decades that public railways existed.

Records of a coroner’s inquest on the body of the sailor Thomas Aird reveal details of a little-known seamen’s strike that was brutally suppressed.

In August 1976, a group of migrant workers led by Jayaben Desai took a historic stand against racism, low pay and limited workers’ rights.

After six years of brutal global conflict, this document marked the end of the Second World War.

The oldest complete document at The National Archives, this charter recording a grant of land dates back over 1,000 years.

In 1938, thanks to years of work by a remarkable female agent, MI5 ensured a package of British defence plans stayed secret.

This is the nationality certificate of Ambalavaner Sivanandan (1923–2018), the novelist, activist and former director of the Institute of Race Relations.

The 1951 Refugee Convention defined international obligations to refugees, but also exposed global tensions in a context of decolonisation and ongoing conflict.

Anne Lister and Ann Walker's romantic relationship defied societal norms of their time, as we can encounter through the archival material they left behind.