The National Archives (TNA) is an executive agency of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport of the United Kingdom.[2] It is "the UK government's official archive, containing 1,000 years of history".[3] There are separate national archives for Scotland (the National Records of Scotland) and Northern Ireland (the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland).
TNA was formerly four separate organisations: the Public Record Office, the Historical Manuscripts Commission, the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) and Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO).
It is institutional policy to include the definite article, with an initial capital letter, in its name (hence "The National Archives", abbreviated as TNA) but this practice is rarely followed in the non-specialist media.