TESTIMONIALS

Testimonials


I'm most fortunate to have worked with some wonderful people, near and far. They have used my expertise for genealogy, family history, house history or archiving collections. Further information on my historical research services can be found here. Details about archiving services are explained here.


What my clients say:


trusted implicitly


‘Maxine spent two years cataloguing and preserving my personal papers which extended over seventy years, containing a wealth of material relating to my climbing and mountaineering exploits. I found her professionally competent and trusted her implicitly to handle my papers with care, sensitivity and in a confidential manner. It also meant that when it came to accessing information for my writing projects, I was able to easily lay my hands on the relevant item.’


Sir Chris Bonington, Mountaineer, Writer & Photographer

Doug Scott, John Innerdale, Maxine Willett, Sir Chris Bonington and Jeff Ford Copyright MHT
professionally rigorous

‘Maxine has always proved highly skilled, dependable, energetic, tactful, discreet and professionally rigorous, not to mention excellent company! Her results have been excellent, frequently exceeding our expectations.’

John Innerdale, MBE, JP, MA, Dip Arch, FRIBA

a joy to work with
‘I worked with Maxine for nearly a decade and in all that time I was impressed by her professionalism, her intimate knowledge of archival techniques, her innate understanding of the objects and documents in her care and her capacity to stretch herself intellectually. She is a joy to work with.’

Julie Summers, Author, Broadcaster and Historian

thorough & sytematic
‘Maxine demonstrated excellent skills in undertaking complex and challenging investigations using primary sources. She was thorough and systematic in her approach and it was clear that her archival training, with its emphasis on logic and order, stood her in very good stead when it came to arranging the material and presenting her conclusions.’

Dr Alan Crosby, MA DPhil FRHistS Historian

organized, thorough, meticulous

'Maxine is an absolute ace! Her research is superb: organized, thorough, meticulous, and informed. Not only that, she’s passionate about her investigations and a true pleasure to work with. I’d recommend her to anyone.” 

Matthew Goodman, bestselling author of Eighty Days: Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland’s History-Making Race Around the World

inspired interest & engagement

‘The success of the Attics and Acres project is a credit to you. All aspects of the project were well run and you have inspired much interest and engagement with the archive from which the office will continue to benefit.’

Margaret Boustead, Head of Archives and Records Management, North Yorkshire County Record Office

completed a difficult task most efficiently

‘Thank you for your magnificent work on the Norton Conyers archives. You are so well organised, so imaginative, so good with people and have managed to complete a difficult task most efficiently.’

Sir James and Halina Graham, North Yorkshire

energy & enthusiasm

‘I asked Maxine to produce a catalogue of a collection of 18th & 19th century papers, relating to the business activities in and around Northallerton of my Squire relatives. She tackled this with energy and enthusiasm and produced exactly the kind of catalogue I was looking for.’

D Hutton-Squire, North Yorkshire

broad experience

'Maxine contributed very significantly to the development and delivery of our Ripon Re-Viewed project. Her archival training and broad experience enabled her to get to grips with our project quickly. She is thorough, systematic, organised and reliable which are terrific qualities for project management. Thank you Maxine.'

M Whitehead, Ripon Civic Society

thorough & most professional

'Maxine's research was thorough and most professional.  I would have no hesitation in recommending her services to anyone.'

Charles Barker, North Yorkshire

precise & thoughtful

'Maxine is great to work with! She is responsive and enthusiastic and listened carefully to me as a client. She was precise and thoughtful in making an agreement, building in adequate flexibility and consultation time. I thoroughly recommend her - a proper Angel!'

Sue MacKay, Collections and Programming Director, Thackray Medical Museum, Leeds

value for money

'I am very pleased with the Family History research on my step-mother which Maxine recently conducted for me.  My communication with Maxine was very easy, and professional, and I consider value for money.   I would not hesitate to recommend her services to others seeking assistance sourcing family history information from overseas.   Thank you Maxine.'

P Saunders, Queensland, Australia

blown away

'I'm not sure the words thank you do justice to the wealth of information you have found! I took it to my Nana's yesterday and she was blown away thank you. You put to bed some questions she had around memories from her childhood and of course, raised some more...'

B Turner, North Yorkshire

really impressed

'Brilliant Maxine!! I'm really impressed. You have uncovered a broad family influence, far beyond anything I could have hoped to discover on my own and I am really pleased.' 

P Willans, Hertfordshire

fascinating & meticulous

Thanks so much for all your hard work and the high standard of your presentation of detail. The whole exercise was fascinating and meticulous especially as it has had to be done from a distance, How you did all this in the small window of time I shall never know. As a retired Consultant in my own field let's just say "it takes a goodun to recognise a goodun".

A M Brushett, Cumbria

efficient & professional

'Maxine is thorough and treats her clients with respect, she is efficient and professional - will work together again'.

S Sinwan, Sydney, Australia

impressed with research

'I was really pleased that you managed to unlock a family connection and was really impressed with your research and how quickly you managed it; I would definitely use your services again'. 

C Thwaite, Yks

friendly and professional review

'Maxine carried out an incisive, friendly and professional review of
our archive making detailed recommendations on the maintenance and
development of our archive. We hope to work together again in the future.'

Sunderland Antiquarian Society

exceptional value

'Maxine undertook research into my family tree in early 2022. I was very impressed by the quality and comprehensiveness of the work she did - far more than I expected and of exceptional value. She delivered not only the family tree back to the 18th century but also an amazing collection of supporting documents including birth and marriage certificates, wills, census returns, newspaper cuttings and even photographs. It was a very satisfactory experience.'

Mr M Armstrong, London

thoroughly professional 

Maxine is absolutely everything you hope for when engaging someone to complete research on your
behalf. She’s thoroughly professional, organized and keeps you up to date throughout the process. She’s
friendly and responsive to your questions and gives you full confidence in her abilities. It would be a
pleasure to work with her again, and I highly recommend her services.

Mr J Linton, Canada

lovely to work with

From the beginning Maxine has been lovely to work with. She has throughout been very pleasant, empathetic and respectful of boundaries- a good listener, too! Subsequently she was also proven to be highly efficient in her painstaking and thorough research. Reports were interesting, very well presented and expressed with great clarity, focusing on what was important. I also thought that, given how difficult and sophisticated this form of research is, the fee was extremely reasonable. I would highly recommend Maxine, on my experience of her work, without hesitation.

Ms J Addinall, London

patient & persevering 

Thank you so much for helping me set out on the right road! Thank you for your patience and perseverance! I don’t know what I would have done without your help.

V F Adams, Warks

caring and dedicated

I highly recommend Archive Angel for your family history searches. Maxine was always a pleasure to deal with and her caring manner, dedication and genuine interest in the research she did for us was greatly appreciated. I was impressed by her knowledge and ability to diversify searches to gain the outcome we had hoped for. We were provided with a comprehensive report at the end of the search including all of her findings. Thank you again!

G Webber, Australia

Get in touch

Contact me at info@archiveangel.co.uk or 07855 827145 for a free, no obligation, 20 minute consultation to see how I can help you with your research project.

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