Federation Of Family History Societies

Archives Liaison

 

One of the principal aims of the Federation is to represent the interests of its member societies, and family historians in general, on national and regional bodies. We do this by forging and maintaining links with organisations whose activities are of interest to family historians in order to ensure that our members' views are heard on important issues. It is the task of the Archives Liaison Officer to coordinate this activity and to report on all significant events.

The Federation was at the inaugural meeting of the General Register Office (GRO) User Group, which met at St Catherine's House when the Family Records Centre was still a distant dream. This group meets four times a year and our Archives Liaison Officer continues to represent the interests of our member societies. We are also involved in joint meetings with the National Archives (TNA).

To help spread the workload of the Archives Liaison Officer we also have a Legislation Monitoring Officer whose task is specifically to monitor any Government legislation which may be of interest to our members and to put forward the views of the Federation in any public consultation. We have thus been involved in a number of issues, including the changes to modernise civil registration and burial law.

We also encourage our member societies to liaise with their local archives and other organisations to ensure that family history is promoted positively, and that archives are preserved and made accessible to family history researchers everywhere.