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Article: Pricing the past; Trouble at the National Archives.(cost cutting proposals at the UK National Archives )
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- September 19, 2009
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2009 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Coming soon to a computer screen near you
A row over budget cuts is pitting academics against amateurs
IN A grey concrete fortress, glowering at an otherwise leafy Kew over a moat-like pond, the National Archives guards Britain's official records, reflecting almost 1,000 years of history. In one reading room academics and students pore silently over crumbling old documents; in another chatty amateur researchers from all over the world study census and family records in search of local history and their long-lost ancestors.
This summer, however, the archive's bosses succeeded in upsetting all their user groups. They want to lower running costs by ...