Treasure 10: the Gresley dance manuscript

  This small paper and parchment notebook dating from end of the fifteenth century was found amongst the Gresley family papers (D77), and was badly damaged by damp and mould. The item has since undergone conservation work, and has been packaged very carefully to protect it – it even has its own pillow!  It is …

A thank-you letter from Mr and Mrs Dunn: conservation update

As Mark promised, he asked me to take a look at that lovely letter in the trustees' minute book from Bethel Methodist Chapel. It has been pasted in on two hinges - very delicately done compared to a lot of other documents we see. Although the hinges and adhesive are definitely not archival, they haven’t …

A thank-you letter from Mr and Mrs Dunn

A researcher was in our searchroom recently, working on a book of trustees' minutes from Bethel Methodist Chapel, Brimington, and came across this letter, pasted into the volume: The full thing reads: Gentlemen, On behalf of Mrs Dunn and myself, I have pleasure in acknowledging the splendid Bible with which you so kindly favoured us …

The Local Studies Catalogue at Derbyshire Record Office

The County Local Studies Card Catalogue at Derbyshire Record Office is an amazing resource. It has entries for subjects, places, people and authors for every possible thing you can think of to do with Derbyshire, and it works. But it has been added to for decades, and requires a certain amount of upkeep, not to …

Archives Aloud: Upstairs, Downstairs

Come along to Ilkeston Library on Tuesday 17th February and join in at our next Archives Aloud afternoon.  Derbyshire voices of those who worked and lived "above" and "below" stairs will be brought to life - using original archive material.  Choose a letter or diary entry to read aloud or bring your own family papers and share …

Treasure 9: The Gregory Mine Reckoning Book

This treasure has been chosen by Matthew Pawelski, who is working towards a PhD on the history of the Derbyshire lead industry, as a part of a collaboration between Lancaster University and Derbyshire Record Office, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Matthew's chosen record is a reckoning book from Gregory (or Gregory's) Mine in Ashover, covering …

Freedom of the City

We had an enquiry last week from the archives at one of London's ancient livery companies, the Leathersellers' Company, asking for further details of an item in our catalogue: Edward Revell's certificate of the Freedom of the City of London. There are two similar documents in the Leathersellers' Company archives, dating from 1472 and 1488, …

Our latest acquisition: Isabella Thornhill’s diary

Here's a picture of the diary of Isabella Thornhill, nee Gell, which we accessioned yesterday: I was going to transcribe an entry dated 21 November 1867, describing a dream in which Queen Victoria escorts Mrs Thornhill to a dinner. The punchline, or at any rate the end of the thing, was that just as the dinner (a dish …

Forthcoming WEA course in Ashbourne

News reaches us of what sounds like an engaging new course run by the Workers' Educational Association, called "An appreciation of the Derbyshire Dales and Staffordshire Moorlands".  This is how it is described in the promotional literature: The Derbyshire Dales and the Staffordshire Moorlands is an area of great beauty and fascinating variety. This course offers …