What is in the Catalogue:
The online catalogue allows you to find descriptions of unique documents from
the archive collections which are available for research. The level of detail of
catalogue entries will vary - sometimes a series of thousands of photographs may
have just one entry, sometimes individual photographs will be described. You
will also see where the document fits into its collection. Clicking on the
reference number (RefNo) displays a diagram of the whole collection of which the
document is a part, similar to a family tree.
The online archive contains descriptions of corporate records of the Guardian
and Observer, details of oral history recordings, lists of photographic files
available in our picture library archive, and details of personal collections of
papers and photographic material of individuals associated with the papers.
Overviews of these records are available on our
website.
What you won’t find in the Catalogue:
Not everything held by the archive is catalogued as this is an ongoing
process and our collections are growing all the time. At present about 30% of
our archive collections are catalogued. If you can’t find the material you are
searching for, we may still be able to help so please
contact us.
The catalogue is not designed to provide online access to digital images of
documents within our collections. You may be able to find a small number of
images of documents along with their catalogue records but most will simply have
a description to enable you to decide if you wish to come in and consult the
material or enquire further about it.
Please note that the catalogue does not contain published articles from the
Guardian or Observer. These can be accessed online on the
Guardian and
Observer Digital archive
Inclusive Language Statement:
The GNM archive aims to describe archival records in an accurate,
inclusive and respectful manner to the people and communities who use and
are represented in our collections.
We are aware that our collections and catalogue descriptions contain
language that is outdated, offensive and harmful. Original terms used by
creators are often reproduced by cataloguers in file titles and
descriptions to maintain the context and integrity of the record and to
produce an accurate representation of the time in which they were used.
They do not reflect the views of the GNM Archive or The Guardian
Foundation. We are committed to addressing offensive and harmful language
in our catalogue descriptions and are taking the following steps
to do this:
-
Revising our cataloguing guidelines and procedures to ensure that
inclusive and respectful language is used going forward
-
Clearly indicating in catalogue entries where an offensive term
has been taken directly from an original record (e.g. by putting it in
inverted commas)
-
Updating problematic language in legacy catalogues where we
believe this was produced by our cataloguers
Due to resource limitations these actions will be taken for all
catalogued records going forward and retrospectively as and when
identified. We welcome feedback and encourage users to notify us at
archives@theguardianfoundation.org where problematic language is
discovered in our catalogue.
We acknowledge that language constantly evolves and that this will be
an ongoing process.