Records Discovered to be Forgeries in the Custody of The National Archives

Division within RW

1939 (purportedly) - 2007

The series within this division (RW 4) comprise documents where conclusive evidential grounds exist to challenge their provenance and authenticity. In common parlance, the records are considered to be forgeries that were illegally placed within existing original record series by unscrupulous and criminal elements. The case for doubting the validity of these records were, in most cases, scientifically adduced by experts in the field of forensic science.

Documents that exist in these series have been extracted from the original record series where they were discovered and placed into the current series.

Non record material

English and German

1 series

Topics

Archives and libraries

Cases of forgeries of documents, as far as can be established, have never been encountered before 2005 in the history of The National Archives and its predecessor body the Public Record Office. The official history 'The Public Record Office 1838 to 1958' by John D Cantwell ( HMSO, 1991) makes no reference to the discovery of forgeries in its index. Security arrangements within the document reading rooms are designed to minimise the risk of the covert introduction of fake documents by public visitors to the office through the regular surveillance of researchers' document handling practices using close circuit television and by close invigilation by Search Room staff and security guards. The National Archives staff are vetted for past criminal offences upon employment.