Archives

Bristol’s ‘White City’

EXHIBITION: Explore the story of the White City, built for Bristol’s International Exhibition and taken over for soldiers of the First World War.

Making the archives greener

At Bristol Archives we care for the city’s archives – over ten miles of shelving containing documents dating back as far as the 12th century – by carefully managing the storage conditions in our strongrooms.

Desert Island Doc: Not in my back yard!

Our staff and invited guests introduce their favourite documents from the Bristol Archives collections. For this edition, Malcolm Boyns, Archivist has selected a petition to alter the place for public executions of criminals, 1773.

The Vaughan Postcard Collection

A huge collection of postcards gathered by a local man, Roy Vaughan, is being researched and made public on the Know Your Place website by a wonderful team of Bristol Archives volunteers.

Desert Island Doc: ‘Visited with the plague’

Our staff and invited guests introduce their favourite documents from the Bristol Archives collections. For this edition, Richard Burley, former Archives Manager, has selected the burial register for the parish of St Nicholas, 1634-1654.

Desert Island Doc: A new school for Cary Grant

Our staff and invited guests introduce their favourite documents from the Bristol Archives collections. For this edition, Max Parkin, Archives Assistant has chosen an admission register for North Street Wesleyan School, 1910.

The John Horwood book

One of the most curious items in the Bristol Archives collection is one of the UK’s few surviving examples of a book bound in human skin. In 1821 John Horwood, an 18 year old from Hanham, near Bristol, was the first person publicly executed at Bri…

Desert Island Doc: Mapping the bombardment of Bristol

Our staff and invited guests introduce their favourite documents from the Bristol Archives collections. For this edition, Matt Coles, Archives Assistant has chosen a plan of bombs dropped, ranging from 50 kilos to 1,000 kilos, during the 1939-45 war.