Blog / Archives

Posted on November 8, 2021 by Lauren MacCarthy.

New maritime records at Bristol Archives

by Allie Dillon, City Archivist Bristol Archives recently obtained historic papers relating to Bristol merchants and shipping (ref. 46588). We bought it at auction, thanks to grants from the Friends of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives, and the …

Posted on October 26, 2021 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Black Bristolians – evidence in the archives

by Allie Dillon, City Archivist For some years, researchers have gathered evidence of Bristol’s historic black population. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, staff at Bristol Archives spent time bringing all this research together. The result is a new resou…

Posted on October 12, 2021 by Caroline James.

Rolling with the punches

By Laura Dow, Volunteer Cataloguer and Nicky Sugar, Archivist Laura and Nicky describe the range of emotions stirred by the Dorothy Myers photographs in the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection. Laura Two boys take part in a boxing lesson with …

Posted on September 23, 2021 by Caroline James.

“Part of the baggage of colonialism”: voices from the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection oral histories

By Kate Robertshaw, Museum Studies student at University of Leicester I have had the opportunity to work with the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection (BECC) at Bristol Archives over the past month as part of a remote placement. It has been an a…

Posted on September 10, 2021 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Shining a light on the Bristol Beacon archive

by Louise Anderson, Bristol Beacon project archivist The Bristol Beacon’s Lantern Project started in 2018, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. This is part of the wider Transformation of the Beacon, formerly known as Colston Hall, which is …

Posted on July 5, 2021 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Listen to the past: Bristol at War podcast released

by Katie Scaife, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project manager It’s happened again; another hour of excellent listening. Once more, the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project, the participation team at Bristol Museums and BCfm have had the honour of wo…

Posted on June 18, 2021 by Caroline James.

For Queen and Country: the voices of women in the Devon Federation of the Women’s Institutes

by Amber Lindley, UOSH volunteer and UWE BA History student. Amber Lindley catalogued recordings of the Devon Dialect Project of the Devon Federation of Women’s Institutes. The Dialect Project is one of many collections begin digitised by UOSH for the S…

Posted on March 17, 2021 by Charlotte Bartholomew.

British Empire & Commonwealth Collection: Introducing the new online catalogue

by Frances Davies, Documentation Assistant Making our collections accessible and available globally is a key focus for us right now. With most of our objects and archives in storage and far fewer people visiting the museum due to lockdown, using the int…

Posted on January 19, 2021 by Charlotte Bartholomew.

Listen to the past: spectacular new podcasts!

By Katie Scaife, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project manager. Monday 18 January saw the launch of an amazing new series of podcasts called Bristol Schools. They’ve been created by local people with the help of BCfm community radio and Bristol Muse…

Posted on November 24, 2020 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Flares, fires and destruction: The air raid of 24 November 1940

by Graham Tratt, Archivist 24 November 2020 marks 80 years since the first major devastating air raid on Bristol during World War Two. The raid and the damage it caused was recorded by local shipping inspector Leonard Pitman. Thanks to funding from the …

Bristol's Free Museums and Historic Houses