Blog / Archives

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Princess Campbell: a unique voice in Bristol’s Black history uncovered at Bristol Archives

by David Brookfield, Audio Digitisation Engineer I’m part of the team digitising audio recordings for the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) project at Bristol Archives. This has given me the chance to hear stories from countless people on a wide ran…

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

To understand racism, we need to understand empire: The British Empire and Commonwealth Collection

By the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection team The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum was an independent museum in Temple Approach, Bristol, which was open to the public between 2002 and 2008. In 2012, following the museum’s permanen…

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Penelope Chetwode and ‘the perfect ADC’ (personal assistant)

by Pat Ellingham, Archives volunteer Our volunteer, Pat Ellingham, found this story of the young Penelope Chetwode (later Lady Betjeman) in the photograph albums of Geoffrey Kellie, part of the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection. There’s a defin…

Posted on May 21, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

A House Through Time: Bristol’s archives take starring role in BBC series

by Jo Vietze, former Senior Archivist The third series of the BBC’s A House Through Time begins next week. Following examination of houses in Newcastle and Liverpool, this year David Olusoga and his team trace the history of a house in Bristol &#821…

Posted on May 19, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Unlocking Our Sound Heritage: Evacuees in St Levan

by Cara Powell, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage volunteer Cara Powell is completing her BA in History at the University of the West of England. The Unlocking Our Sound Heritage team were lucky enough to have her as a volunteer in 2019-20. Cara worked on a nu…

Posted on May 13, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Listen to 40 years of art & artists from the Arnolfini archive

by David, Sam and Philippa, from the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project The first collection held by Bristol Archives that Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) digitised was from Arnolfini, Bristol’s contemporary arts centre. 40 years of artists’ ta…

Posted on May 8, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Bristol’s VE Day celebrations brought to life

On Friday 8 May, we mark the 75th anniversary of VE Day – the end of the Second World War in Europe. On Tuesday 8 May 1945, celebrations took place across the country and Bristol was no exception. Two different audio-visual archives from Brist…

Posted on April 16, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Archives advice: Preserving audio from a CD

by Samuel Bates, Audio Digitisation Engineer Sometimes, the problem you expect is not the problem you end up with. On the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project, we are preserving thousands of at-risk audio items. We have cassettes and open-reel tapes,…

Posted on February 18, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Arnos Vale Cemetery archive now open

By Graham Tratt, Archivist The records of Arnos Vale Cemetery are now available for research at Bristol Archives. The collection documents how this Victorian cemetery developed and records the generations of Bristol people laid to rest in its groun…

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

One vast interconnected world: Paul Mellon grant to digitise collection

by Nicky Sugar, Archivist Throughout 2019, staff from the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection at Bristol Archives worked on a project to open up access to some of our oldest photographic collections. This was generously funded by the Paul Me…

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