Essential Margaret Thatcher

Overview including brief biography, chronology and commentary

Overview

Welcome to the official website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the largest contemporary history site of its kind.

This site offers free access to thousands of documents—many of them previously unpublished—relating to Margaret Thatcher and world events during the last thirty years.

Highlights

In addition to the database categories below, there is also a brief biography, a short reading list & chronology of key events.

Archive
Documents from Margaret Thatcher's personal files and from public and private archives in Britain and the United States.
Speeches, interviews, etc.
Complete listing of every public statement by Margaret Thatcher 1945-90, and texts of most, plus a selection since.
Multimedia
Video and audio items from British and American sources.
Chronology
Comprehensive timeline of events in Margaret Thatcher's life & career.
Commentary
Journalism, book extracts & pamphlets.

On-line exhibition

Visit our on-line exhibition of memorable moments and sayings from MT's remarkable life, linked to public and private documents on the site.

How can I search?

All the documents on the site have been indexed by hand under subject headings, so searches by subject reliably find all (and only) relevant material.

All the documents on the site are graded by importance or rank (key, major, minor, trivial), so that you can focus on key documents or eliminate minor items.

You can search easily by date or period, or any word occurring in the text.

Search help page.