Free Services

The following services are free to customers: 

• personal visits to the Archives Service searchroom within normal hours to consult original documents and microfilm 

• advice on research and archive sources from staff in person, or by telephone or e-mail. However, if you commission staff to look things up for you, this counts as research and we will need to make a charge. For more detailed information on what is considered a free basic enquiry and what is chargeable research see this information on our Enquiry and Research Service.

• access to family history websites via terminals in the searchroom (space permitting) including access to the Ancestry website and the British Newspaper Archive (normally these websites require a subscription or pay per view) 

• access to the Archives Service website, including the catalogues database, the Community Archive pages, and the Bedford Gaol register database