New additions to the Miller Mundy archive

We were delighted when we were contacted a few weeks ago by a gentleman who had some new items to add to the archive of the Miller Mundy family of Shipley Hall, Heanor. They belonged to his grandmother, Gladys Nicholls (1904-1986), who was cook-housekeeper to the Miller Mundys in the early 1960s. By this time …

March’s Social Media Digest

To get off on the right note for March, which is Women's History Month, our Archive of the Week thread turned to the Arts. In our Strutt Library, bequeathed by Frederick Strutt (1843-1909), you’ll find a cornucopia of literary, artistic, and scientific works, including musical compositions by Frances Crawford Kemble (1787-1849) a.k.a. Mrs Robert Arkwright …

Mango Cucumbers: a recipe ripe for revival

To mark Veganuary, I saw fit to post a 1721 recipe to the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. It's for Mango Cucumbers. Our Northumbrian counterparts sent a reply suggesting we give it a whirl. On behalf of Derbyshire, I am only too happy to oblige. First things first: no actual mangoes are involved. …

New events

We are pleased to announce our new Events programme covering May to September. We’ll be holding a selection of free ‘Introductions’ to subjects which can help when researching family and local history. There is one Introduction per month and all will include an introduction to the types of records which can help in your research, …

PhotoFriday – March Digest

Its time again for our monthly round up of PhotoFriday social media posts, where we highlight images from the Local Studies collections across the county, which you can find on www.picturethepast.org.uk  Our first tweet coincided with St. David's Day, and what better way to celebrate than with a picture of daffodils, the national flower of Wales. …

PhotoFriday – February Digest

Once again its time for our monthly round up of PhotoFriday social media posts, where we highlight images from the local studies collections across the county, which you can find on www.picturethepast.org.uk  Our first post of the month fell in National Storytelling Week. We chose this photograph because it looks as if this lady is waiting …

Celebrating the county’s inspirational women

For over 80 years the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service (now the Royal Voluntary Service) has been encouraging people to give the gift of time to their local community. Records of the WRVS held here at Derbyshire Record Office show all the wonderful work that the women of the Derby branch were involved in – a …

February’s Social Media Digest

Welcome back for another look at our social media output; and if you were here for January, you will have seen our tales of snowy weather. Well, a day’s Derbyshire snowfall was all the excuse we needed to think of sledging: 🐧🕸 But, let’s start thinking of warmer climes: Anyone remember the Palm Beach Tourist? …

Kirkstead Board School

For those of you who tune in for our Social Media Digest, you'll be familiar with the hashtag #SearchroomSurprise. Well, our Searchroom Supervisor, Maxine, came across just such a surprise at the end of a busy day recently. A log book for the former Kirkstead Board School (Girls Dept.) in Pinxton gives an insight into …

Social Media Digest for January

Welcome back to our (rather delayed) Social, Media highlights for last month. Our Archive of The Week thread started 2024 with a religious leaning and an undated photo which we had very little information about. But having somewhat accidentally seen a different view of the same event in a booklet in a Diocesan church buildings …