Blog / Archives

Victor Veevers: Poster designer for the Indian Railways, 1930s

by Pat Ellingham, Archives volunteer I’ve been travelling to India for over 20 years and love the culture and landscape of this astonishing country. It’s one of the reasons why my role as a volunteer on the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection at…

Nairobi: The Building Shared Futures project

by Nicky Sugar, archivist of the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection Last year we reported on a research trip to Kenya by Dr Liz Haines and Dr Neil Carrier of the University of Bristol. They made contact with academics and curators in Nairobi to e…

What could Bristol have to tell me about Kenya?

By Dr Lydia Muthuma, Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi Lydia Muthuma is one of the Building Shared Futures project team, funded by the University of Bristol to bring together British and Kenyan colleagues with an interest in material relating to th…

Come fly with me: Early days of the RAF in India

by Pat Ellingham, Archives volunteer I’ve been a volunteer with the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection for just over a year and one of the pleasures has been the involvement with stories of lives connected with Empire, a form of time-travel I’m …

Margaret Duncan’s diary: What happened next…

by Nicky Sugar, archivist at Bristol Archives In February 1918 Margaret Duncan, a Post Office clerk from Scotland, sailed to East Africa for a new job and new adventures. Her diary and photograph albums are now in the British Empire and Commonw…

Margaret Duncan’s diary: 22 February 1919

In February 1918 Margaret Duncan, a Post Office clerk from Scotland, sailed to East Africa for a new job and new adventures. Her diary and photograph albums are now in the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection at Bristol Archives (ref: 200…

Voyages of Discovery in the Archives

By Geoff Naldrett, BECC Archives Placement Student As a mature student with a failing memory, not suited to three hour ‘memory test’ exams, I opted for a placement module during the final year of my BA(Hons) History degree at UWE. What a go…

Margaret Duncan’s diary: 14 July 1918

by Nicky Sugar, Archivist at Bristol Archives In February 1918 Margaret Duncan, a Post Office clerk from Scotland, sailed to East Africa for a new job and new adventures. Her diary and photograph albums are now in the British Empire and Commonw…