How the Archive Is Organised
Every subject, essay, resource, journal entry, region, gallery, and image in the archive carries a permanent citation ID. This page explains the system, the format, and how to use it.
What an Archive ID Looks Like
Every entry in the archive has an ID of the form XX-NNNN - two letters that encode what kind of entry it is, then a four-digit sequence number.
The two-letter prefix tells you the kind of entry. The four-digit number is the sequence in which entries of that kind were added to the archive - first in, lowest number. The number is always zero-padded so IDs sort cleanly both visually and lexically.
The Type Prefixes
Sixteen prefixes are currently in use, covering the subject categories at People plus the supporting layers of the archive.
| Code | Type | What it covers | Count |
|---|---|---|---|
| MK | Maker | Documented craftspeople - practitioners whose knowledge lives in their hands. | 38 |
| KP | Keeper | People whose identity is inseparable from one specific building or institution. | 38 |
| CR | Carrier | People who keep traditions alive through annual personal commitment. | 38 |
| RM | Rememberer | Elders carrying irreplaceable local memory. | 38 |
| ST | Steward | People who maintain the working landscape through care and seasonal practice. | 38 |
| GT | Gatherer | Private holders of significant heritage collections. | 38 |
| ES | Essay | Long-form thematic writing across the six categories. | 56 |
| RS | Resource | Reference documents tied to a specific category - Red Lists, registers, surveys. | 5 |
| TL | Tool | Standalone resources outside any category - calculators, guides, this page. | 20 |
| JN | Journal | Personal reflections on the work. | 16 |
| FD | Field Diary | Production logistics and the working calendar. | 7 |
| RG | Region | Geographic groupings of England. | 8 |
| AR | Area | Specific places within a region. | 29 |
| GL | Gallery | A photo collection attached to a documented subject. | 2 |
| IM | Image | A single photograph in a subject gallery. | 299 |
The Rules That Make IDs Trustworthy
An ID is only useful as a citation if it can be relied on. These four rules govern every entry in the archive:
- Once assigned, never changes.
An ID stays attached to its entry forever. The slug, the title, the category, the page URL - any of those can change. The ID stays. If a Maker is later reclassified as something else, the original MK-NNNN remains their permanent identifier in the archive.
- Never reused.
If an entry is removed from the archive, its ID is retired. The number is never reassigned to anything else. A reader who finds a citation to a removed entry can still resolve it - to a clear "this entry has been retired" page, never to a different entry that happens to share the number.
- Sequential within type, in order of addition.
The first Maker added to the registry is MK-0001. The second is MK-0002. Order is determined by when an entry first enters the registry, not by when it was photographed, not alphabetically, not by category - just first-in, first-numbered. This is the only assignment rule that stays stable when the archive grows.
- Pre-publication entries get IDs too.
An entry doesn't have to be live on the site to have an ID. Forthcoming subjects - people we know we're going to document but haven't yet - get their IDs reserved the moment they enter the registry. When the page goes live, the ID is already there. The work of citation never has to wait for publication.
How to Cite an Entry
Every entry has a permanent reference URL of the form englandarchive.org/id/<ID>. The reference URL never changes, even if the page slug does. Use it in any citation, reference, footnote, or share.
Suggested citation
The England Archive. (April 2026). Paul Kemp, Millwright [MK-0001]. https://englandarchive.org/id/MK-0001 The reference URL resolves with a single HTTP 301 redirect to the canonical content page. There is no JavaScript hop, no meta-refresh delay - clicking the citation lands you on the page in one network round trip.
For images, the reference URL deep-links to the specific photo within its parent subject's gallery. englandarchive.org/id/IM-0001 opens the Paul Kemp page and scrolls directly to the photo.
For forthcoming entries - those with IDs reserved but no published page yet - the reference URL serves a small placeholder explaining that the entry is registered but not yet live. The same URL will become a 301 to the canonical page the moment the page is published.
Where to Find Things
The complete archive directory lives at englandarchive.org/id. Every entry is listed there, grouped by type, sorted by ID, with a link to its reference URL. 504 entries are indexed today; the page is generated automatically from the registry, so it stays current as the archive grows.
Each individual page on the site also displays its own ID - in the metadata block on subject pages, in the header strip on essays and journal entries, and in image captions throughout the galleries. You can copy any ID with a single drag (the styling marks them as fully selectable on click).
Why This Exists
An archive that cannot be cited is not really an archive. It is a collection of pages on a website, vulnerable to every URL change, every reorganisation, every reshuffle of the navigation. Documentary work has to outlast the site that hosts it.
The ID system is a small piece of infrastructure that makes the rest of the work durable. A future researcher who wants to point at a specific photograph of Paul Kemp can write IM-0023 in a paper, a book, a footnote, or an email and trust that the reference will still resolve in a decade. That trust is the whole point.