Blog

Posted on by Saffron Smolka.

Summer Activities at Blaise Museum and Kings Weston Villa

Blaise Museum and Kings Weston Villa is excited to launch this year’s programme of free, family-friendly summer fun!   Events with craft, storytelling, trails and a whole host of other activities will take place at Blaise Estate on Thursdays i…

Posted on by Alice Bush.

Sea Dragon Skull goes on Summer Holiday

Bristol Museum & Art Gallery says “see you soon!” to our 180 million-year-old Temnodontosaurus Skull. Visitors with keen eyes may have spotted a group carrying a large and heavy box out of Bristol Museum & Art Gallery on Wednesday 14 …

Posted on by Alice Bush.

Rare witness statement reveals tragic story of executed gay couple

By Mary Milton, Archives Officer, Bristol Archives Staff at Bristol Archives have made an important discovery about the case of William Critchard and Richard Arnold, two men executed in 1753 for what was then described as “the detestable crime of buggery…

Posted on by Alice Bush.

Reassessing the Agricultural Collection

by Amber Druce, Curator of Social History One of the biggest challenges facing museums is a lack of storage space for expanding collections. For the past 10 years, we’ve been rehoming some of the agricultural objects in our collection that don’t have a lo…

Posted on by Alice Bush.

M Shed’s Historical Walks: Bristol Abolition

By walk guide Mark Steeds, author and historian from Bristol Radical History Group Starting at M Shed, this walk around central Bristol explores the city’s thousand-year involvement in the slave trade, examining what’s been memorialised and what has…

Posted on by Saffron Smolka.

Marking International Museum Day 2023 with schoolchildren and cameras

Today (May 18) is International Museum Day with the theme of Museums, Sustainability, and well-being. A recent collaboration between our Museums Learning team and UWE Bristol demonstrates the valuable role museums play in lifelong learning and co…

Posted on by Saffron Smolka.

Rediscovering Black Portraiture: The Young Catechist by Henry Meyer

By Peter Braithwaite, baritone, artist, broadcaster and writer. I made this recreation of the painting ‘The Young Catechist’ by Henry Meyer for my exhibition at the museum, Rediscovering Black Portraiture. I’ve reworked Meyer’s 19th cent…

Posted on by Fay Curtis.

A daring expedition over Everest

By Eve Andreski, BECC Documentation Assistant A new accession to the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection (BECC) recalls a ground-breaking feat! 90 years ago today, on 3 April 1933, the first flight expedition over Everest prepared to embark. Two …

Posted on by Fay Curtis.

Black Lives Matter Placards at Bristol Museums

by Amber Druce, Curator of Social History During protests against police brutality and racial inequality on 7 June 2020, people left placards at the base of the Colston statue plinth. This began before the statue was pulled down and continued af…

Posted on by Fay Curtis.

“I was lucky enough to escape”: the WW1 diary of Dr Gordon Covell

By Eve Andreski, BECC Documentation Assistant The British Empire and Commonwealth Collection (BECC) cares for many diaries and letters. These reveal the inner thoughts of people who lived through momentous events. One such person, Dr Gordon Covell, s…