Forging Our Future – collecting to better represent disabled people in Bristol

by Lee Hutchinson, curator of history Forging Our Future is a dynamic project managed by Bristol Disability Equality Forum and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Working in partnership with Bristol Museums and Archives, it explores the disabi…

Posted on August 20, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

Behind the scenes M Shed tours are back!

by Lee Hutchinson, curator of history It’s been a while, but we’re delighted to announce that the popular behind-the-scenes tours of M Shed will be resuming in September. Book a behind-the-scenes tour of M Shed on our website. Numbers will be re…

Posted on July 19, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery: A textbook for schools

by Richard Kennett, Assistant Headteacher at Gatehouse Green Learning Trust and Jane Hack, Senior Engagement Officer for Learning at Bristol Museums Watching the Colston statue fall last summer was a profound moment for our city. It made us reconsider o…

Posted on June 15, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

Our Bristol

by Finn White, Community Engagement Officer What makes your neighbourhood unique? What makes Bedminster bounce, Hartcliffe hum, and St Pauls sing? Have you seen your neighbourhood afresh during the pandemic? We’re teaming up with Bristol Photogr…

Posted on May 24, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

We’re painting the M Shed cranes!

by Caroline Booth-Morris, Development Manager If you have taken a stroll around the harbour lately you may have noticed that we have temporarily closed the walkway outside M Shed and moved all four cranes closer together. This is because we have begun t…

Posted on March 19, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

Covid collecting

by Amber Druce, Curator of History In March 2020, we did a call out for objects, stories and photos of Bristol’s response to Coronavirus. We had plenty of feedback, especially at the start, and the insights were really useful. Since then, I’ve also app…

Posted on January 25, 2021 by Fay Curtis.

A potted history of soap making in Bristol – until 1954

By Lee Hutchinson, curator of history Bristol has laid claim to several firsts in English history. One of those is soap manufacturing. In the 1815 edition of the Bristol Guide, the author echoed the belief that “the first manufacture of Soap in Eng…

Posted on November 16, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

Bristol’s remarkable trans pioneer: Michael Dillon

by Cheryl Morgan, co-chair of Outstories Bristol, an LGBTQ+ local history group Bristol has an impressive connection to transgender history. The great writer, Jan Morris, was born in Clevedon, and the city is also home to two modern trans stars: Trav…

Posted on October 30, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

The Bristol Blitz: Using Bristol’s oral history collection in the classroom

by Lucy Fulton, engagement officer in the formal learning team Before the lockdown started, strange words were heard in some Bristol classrooms. These included incendiary bombs, barrage balloons and the anti-aircraft gun, ‘Big Bertha’. These words all c…

Posted on September 25, 2020 by Fay Curtis.

That Be Bristle: The Bristol accent according to Bristolians

By Karen Garvey, engagement officer for events We’re exploring all things Bristolian for #BrizzleWeek. Bristol people are often proud of who they are and how they sound. Home-grown speakers in these clips recorded for the opening of M Shed dis…

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