Finding Archival Documents at the
Modern Records Centre
How to Search the Archive Catalogue
The MRC catalogue is separate from the Library catalogue and functions differently. The MRC
catalogue can be found at the following:
http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/
The catalogue will search for a keyword or phrase in all fields, including title, author,
description, etc. So for instance, searching ‘immigration’ will bring up hits with the word
‘immigration’ in the title of a document, the description of the document or the author. The field
is not case-sensitive. Two or more words will automatically search AND. For instance, ‘trade
union’ will search ‘trade AND union’ unless a more advance search is used. You can use the
following commands to perform more advanced searches:

Using OR means the search will find records matching at least one of the terms e.g.
trades OR union

Using NOT before a word will search for records that do not contain that word e.g. trades
union NOT congress

Use a * to match any number of any characters. So, if you want to find record
descriptions containing words beginning or ending with a certain string of letters, use it at
the start or end of the string e.g. run* will match run, runner and running

Use a ? to match just one missing character e.g. franc?s will match frances and francis

Put a phrase in quotation marks to match the exact phrase e.g. "trades union congress"

Any of these commands can be combined with brackets to make more complex searches
e.g. (trades AND union) OR congress
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Terminology
Try several different terms (health/disease*/medic* (for medicine, medical etc)
Please be aware that modern terms may not find the topics you are looking for - Most of the
material we hold is from the early or mid 20th century when different terminology was widely
used.

Disability/ handicap*(ped)/lunatic/ maladjusted/backward etc

Race/Colour*/Black/Negro

Ceylon and Sri Lanka; Rhodesia and Zimbabwe/Zambia
Refining Your Search
Some terms will produce very large hits. E.g. If you are interested in West Indian immigration to
Britain: A search for Immi* (Immigration) will find over 500 hits.
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You can sort these hits
several different ways
using the criteria listed
on the left hand bar. So
for instance, if you are
only interested in
digitized documents,
click ‘Digitised’ which
will give you 2
documents:
You can also search by
date range. So if you
want to explore
documents related to
Post-War immigration to
Britain from the West
Indies, you might search
the date range from 1948
to 1962, or narrow the
search to find only those
records where immi* can
be found in the title of a
document. As shown
below, this would reduce
your search to 41 hits.
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To Order a Document
Once you have narrowed your search, click on the document that seems relevant. You will be taken
to a page with more detailed information, for example:
This will give you more information about the item – its collection and a description. It will also
provide the ‘Reference Number’ (the number starting with MSS). This is what you will need to
order the item. MAKE A NOTE OF THIS AND KEEP IT in case you need to re-order the item.
You will also need the reference number when citing the documents in any essays.
There are several ways to order a document to view in our search room. You can click the link in
the left hand bar of the catalogue ‘Contact us about this item’ to request the item ahead of a visit.
Once you have the Reference Number, you can also send us an email archives@warwick.ac.uk to
request the document in advance of your visit. Alternatively, you can drop in to the archives and
fill out a document request form.
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