FAQs
How do I make an appointment to view an item found on the
online catalogue?
Email archives@theguardian.com quoting the reference number of
the item(s) you are interested in consulting. The reading room in located in
King's Cross, London, and is open to researchers Mondays to Fridays, from
10am-1pm and 2pm-5pm.
Why can't I find articles which appeared in the Guardian
and Observer?
This catalogue does not contained published articles from the
Guardian or Observer. These can be accessed on the Guardian and Observer
Digital archive
or at a number of libraries throughout the country. See our
website for further information.
Why can't I see images of all the documents in the
catalogue?
The catalogue contains written descriptions of documents in
our collections and is not designed to provide online access to digital images
of documents. You may be able to find a small number of images 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.
Why can't I find records relating to the early history of
the Guardian or Observer?
Guardian: The GNM Archive mainly holds records that relate to
the Guardian since its move from Manchester to London in the 1960s. An overview
of
our collections is available on our website. While the archive does hold
some earlier records the majority are held at the
at the University of Manchester Library.
Observer: Few documents relating to the Observer's early
years are known to have survived and the majority of those that have remain
within private collections. The GNM archive holds records relating to the paper
from 1907 onwards, although there are still significant gaps in our records. The
archive of JL Garvin (editor of the Observer 1908-1942) is held by the
Harry Ransom Humanities
Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin.
Why can't I find what I'm looking for?
You may find it helpful to look at the overview of records
held in the archive on our
website. General tips to help you search the catalogue are included below
but if you still can't find what you are looking for please do
email us with your query.
Why doesn't the catalogue work late at night?
The catalogue is updated overnight between midnight and 12.30am (London time) and you will not be able to search it during this time. If the search function is not working at any other time of day please
email to let us know.
Search Tips:
You can use an asterisk (*) known as a "wildcard" to extend
your search terms. For example searching for photograph* will retrieve not only
results for 'photograph' but extensions of the word such as 'photographs' and
'photographic'.
If you want to search for an exact term, use double quotation
marks around the phrase.
Remember that a catalogue search will only find exact works
used in the catalogue so if you can't find what you are looking for it is best
to use another term.
When searching for personal names in the catalogue search it
is often best to search just for a surname as a full name can appear in a number
of different forms eg CP Scott, Charles Scott, Charles Prestwich Scott.
If an item is not yet catalogued it won't appear on the
catalogue. However, we may still be able to help so please
contact us.
Please note that Internet explorer and Firefox are the
recommended browsers for searching the catalogue and you may experience
technical problems when using other browsers.