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Archives in London and the M25 area
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Help with Browsing

How do I start?

You may browse AIM25 by repository, subject, personal name, corporate name, or place name. The Browse tab visible in most pages provides links to these listings.

Click on the By Repository tab to view an alphabetical list of repositories which have contributed descriptions of their archives to AIM25. Click on a repository name to view a list of these descriptions. The list of descriptions will appear as a paged list which also gives the title of the collection, the date on which the description was compiled, and an abstract of the introductory phrase from the Scope and Content field to give an indication of the contents of the collection. The title, repository, and date columns may be sorted in ascending or descending order using the arrows at the head of each column. Clicking on the title link will take you to a full page view of the description.

You can step through the lists of matches using the row of numbered pages at the bottom of the list of matches. The numbered links take you to the first, second, third and so on set of matches.

You can also broaden your search using the indexing entries at the right hand side of the page, or narrow your search using the Refine search box.

For browsing by subject or name, see the Thesaurus-assisted help page.

How do I print a description?

The easiest way to do this is to use your Web browser to print the results to a local printer. Use the Print button of your browser or the menu option to get a printed copy.

How do I look at the collections of another repository?

You may return to the list of repositories at any time by clicking on the Browse->Repository tab at the top of each description.

Why do some collection detail pages have a link to Parent records or Subfonds/series records?

Some larger collections, or 'fonds', also have descriptions for smaller sub-groupings (usually referred to as 'sub-fonds' or 'series') of the main collection. Clicking on the Subfonds/series link will bring up a list of the smaller sub-groupings. Again, simply click on a title to view the description. Clicking on a Parent link will take you to the larger collection description.

How can I consult more detailed catalogues?

A number of collections have links to detailed catalogues held online by the repository. This will be indicated by a Detailed catalogue hyper link in the field 3.4.5 Finding aids. Alternatively this field will give information on more detailed finding aids held in the repository.

How can I contact the repository and arrange to use their archives?

Clicking on the ARCHON in the "Held At" field will take you to the page of the ARCHON gateway supplied by the Historical Manuscripts Commission of the United Kingdom, providing further information on access and contact details of each archive repository as well as further information on the repository's archives which have been submitted to the National Register of Archives maintained by the Historical Manuscripts Commission.

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