Posted on February 18, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

Arnos Vale Cemetery archive now open

By Graham Tratt, Archivist The records of Arnos Vale Cemetery are now available for research at Bristol Archives. The collection documents how this Victorian cemetery developed and records the generations of Bristol people laid to rest in its groun…

Posted on February 14, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

One vast interconnected world: Paul Mellon grant to digitise collection

by Nicky Sugar, Archivist Throughout 2019, staff from the British Empire & Commonwealth Collection at Bristol Archives worked on a project to open up access to some of our oldest photographic collections. This was generously funded by the Paul Me…

Posted on January 14, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

Digitising the British Empire & Commonwealth film collection

by Jayne Pucknell, Archivist The digitising of some of our most important or unusual films from the British Empire and Commonwealth film collection started in July 2019, and will run to autumn 2020. We have around 2,000 films in the British Empire and C…

Posted on January 8, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

Unlocking Our Sound Heritage: Abercornucopia – Zambia’s bush telegraph

by Mike Hatcher, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage volunteer Unlocking Our Sound Heritage (UOSH) volunteer Mike Hatcher hears about life in an idyllic spot on the edge of Lake Tanganyika – and the father and son who documented it in a local newsp…

Posted on December 18, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

Unlocking Our Sound Heritage: Serendipitous finds in the Pamela Fursman archive

by Hugh Manistre, Unlocking Our Sound Heritage volunteer Ludwig Koch’s Memoirs of a Birdman describe how he made the first ever audio recordings of birdsong. When he was eight, Koch was given a phonograph by his father and began making wax cy…

Posted on November 14, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

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…

Posted on August 13, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

Listen! Unlocking Our Sound Heritage – sounds great

The Unlocking Our Sound Heritage project will save and make available to the public almost half a million rare and unique recordings at risk of being lost.

Posted on July 17, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

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…

Posted on June 7, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

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…

Posted on March 22, 2019 by Fay Curtis.

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 …

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