“A Patient with the Doctor’s Monkey”: mental health care in colonial Kenya

by Pat Ellingham, volunteer with the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection This week (9-15 May) marks Mental Health Awareness Week. Pat Ellingham, a British Empire and Commonwealth Collection (BECC) volunteer, reflects on her recent glimpse into c…

Posted on April 27, 2022 by Alice Bush.

First impressions of the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection

by Eve Andreski, Documentation Assistant Hello! I am a long-term volunteer and previous museum front-of-house team member. I began working with the British Empire and Commonwealth Collection (BECC) at the end of January. This is when generous funding f…

Posted on April 6, 2022 by Lauren MacCarthy.

A farewell to Unlocking Our Sound Heritage

by the Unlocking Our Sound Heritage team The Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) team started at Bristol Archives in October 2018. They’ve weathered fun technical issues and a pandemic, but they look back now, in their final week, on what they’ve ac…

Posted on March 24, 2022 by Lauren MacCarthy.

A brush with theatrical fame for Bristol Archives

by Harriet Wilson, Bristol Old Vic Heritage Engagement Officer, and Anne Lovejoy, Senior Archivist at Bristol Archives Historical medical records shared top billing* with Mark Rylance recently in the world premiere of Dr Semmelweis at Bristol Old Vic. …

Posted on December 13, 2021 by Lauren MacCarthy.

Have you seen the TARDIS?

by Mary Milton – Archive Assistant at Bristol Archives If you noticed the TARDIS on the streets of Bristol this autumn you might not have been that surprised. The Doctor Who series is filmed in Cardiff and locations across the west feature in the rec…

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 Lauren MacCarthy.

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 Lauren MacCarthy.

“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 …

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