Listening to the Past, Speaking to the Future

AArchives in 200470 The Breadth and Diversityof UK Archives“Archives are the documents created in the normal courseof the life of an institution or individual in order for them tofunction, and as such provide an historical record.” 9In the last fifty years there has been a significant expansionin the amount of archival material held in the UK. Inparallel, there has been a continuing increase in thenumber of people using archival collections, fuelled inlarge measure by the growth of interest in family and localhistory. In the UK, there are over one and a half millionvisits each year to archives, and over 75% of those visitorsdo so for private or personal research. Many are first timevisitors, and many more millions access archives virtually.The use of archival material has never been more popular.The sheer range and diversity of UK archive collectionsis astonishing. The Archives Task Force has found that,put quite simply, archives are everywhere.Archive Facts and FiguresPeople• 853,742 people visiting local authority archives inEngland and Wales in 2001/02• Over 300,000 people visited the sites of The NationalArchives in 2002/03• Over 12,500 people visited the search rooms of theNational Archives of Scotland in 2002/03• Over 15,000 people visited the search rooms of thePublic Record Office of Northern Ireland in 2002/03• 195 groups (4,309 teachers, pupils and students)participating in educational workshops on-site or viavideoconferencing at The National Archives• Nearly 58% of archive users are aged 55 and above• 5% of archive users are aged below 24• An estimated 98% of archive users are white• Over 1,830 members of the Society of Archivists(total membership)• Over 650 members of the Records Management Society