The National Archives
Finding a new copy of the US Declaration of Independence
In May 2026, a volunteer working on a cataloguing project at The National Archives made an astonishing discovery.
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Dispatches
Curious stories and events from around the world.
Friday, 3 July 2026
The National Archives
Rare 1776 Declaration of Independence discovered at The National Archives
A rare 1776 printing of the US Declaration of Independence has been discovered at The National Archives.
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Tuesday, 30 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
Diagrams for Travel from the Qanoon-e-Islam (1832)
Diagrams from a now-lost Urdu manuscript illustrating the propitious days and directions for travel.
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Monday, 29 June 2026
Historic Mysteries
The Legend of J’ba Fofi: The Giant Spider of the Congo
The dense, uncharted rainforests of the Congo Basin have long been a fertile ground for… The post The Legend of J’ba Fofi: The Giant Spider of the Congo appeared first on Historic Mysteries.
Read at Historic MysteriesWednesday, 17 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
Louis Pope Gratacap, A Curator in Lost Worlds
Arguably the first work of fiction to feature a *Tyrannosaurus rex*, Louis Pope Gratacap’s *The New Northland* (1915) is at once kaleidoscopic, mischievous, fascinating — and exhausting. Richard Fallon explores this “lost world” novel,…
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The Public Domain Review
The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929)
69 images of kite flying from across 5 centuries and some dozen countries.
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The National Archives
Unheard Voices: Encountering difficult histories with the Sri Lankan Tamil community
In this blog, Hari Chandrapal explains how she explored unsettling histories with members of the Sri Lankan community using records at The National Archives.
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Monday, 15 June 2026
The National Archives
Where Paper Remembers: South Asian Stories – A model for regional engagement
Iqbal Singh and Dr Shaniece Martin recently co‑led a workshop in Coventry inspired by the exhibition Stories That Made Us – Roots, Resilience, Representation.
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Thursday, 11 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
Venetian Bridge Brawls in 17th and 18th Century Art
Artworks from an era when Venetians brawled on bridges.
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The National Archives
The day a missile struck The National Archives' site
When Chris Ransted learned that during the Second World War, a V1 flying bomb hit the site where The National Archives now stands, he chose to investigate.
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Wednesday, 10 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
Genevieve Stebbins’ Delsarte System of Dramatic Expression (1886)
A philosophical system and a practical guide for the cultivation of dramatic genius.
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Tuesday, 9 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
The Launch of Our Mid-Year Fundraiser!
Our Mid-Year Fundraiser is launched, and the new postcards theme will be Soil.
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The National Archives
Researching LGBTQ+ histories in the archives of government
In this blog post Vicky Iglikowski-Broad explains how you can get started in researching LGBTQ+ histories through government records.
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Thursday, 4 June 2026
The National Archives
Recovering histories of Scandinavian seafarers in the Prize Papers
On a three-month placement at the National Archives, Kaia Sollie explored records about Danish, Swedish, and Norwegian seafaring in the seventeenth century.
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Wednesday, 3 June 2026
The Public Domain Review
Covers from Cerîde-i Adliye, a Turkish Law Journal (1924–26)
Legal infographics that reflect a Turkish nation in flux.
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Tuesday, 2 June 2026
The National Archives
Celebrating Volunteers’ Week 2026
To celebrate Volunteers' week, The National Archives’ Keith Mitchell reflects on the achievements of our volunteers and their projects.
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Friday, 29 May 2026
The National Archives
Cataloguing the copyright collection
In this blog post, Katherine Howells explores how our volunteers have catalogued copyright records and highlights the stories they can tell us.
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Thursday, 28 May 2026
The Public Domain Review
Animal, Vegetable, Lamb: The Zoophyte from Tartary
In the Middle Ages, rumours spread across Europe of a strange hybrid creature, half-animal, half-plant, known as the Vegetable Lamb of Tartary. A hoax based on fern rhizomes? A euphemism for culled fetal lambs? Or perhaps a medieval…
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The National Archives
Caribbean and West African scholars to lead new research into transatlantic slavery
New funding to preserve historical records related to transatlantic slavery.
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