The Gratitude of First World War Prisoners to Margery Swanwick of Chesterfield

A post from catalogue volunteer, Roger. The Record Office recently purchased several letters and postcards at an auction which illustrate aspects of humanitarian work during the First World War. Margery Eleanor Swanwick (1880-1959) a resident of Whittington, Chesterfield was active both in providing parcels of food and other comforts to Allied soldiers imprisoned in Germany, …

The Mysterious Mrs Munday

October is Black History Month, which is the ideal time to write about research I've been doing on an early figure in Derbyshire's Black History, Mrs Munday. I first came across Mrs Munday around ten years ago, when I was working for Sandwell Community History & Archives Service and doing some Black History research there …

Being Human – a festival of the humanities

Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities. The festival showcases how humanities researchers work every day on issues that shape the world that we live in. The 7th annual Being Human Festival takes place between 12-22 November with the theme of ‘New Worlds’, perfectly timed to reflect on the radical global …

Baby Loss Awareness Week and records of stillbirth

This week (9-15 October) is Baby Loss Awareness Week.  Understandably, this is an incredibly emotive issue and one that many people don't think about if it is not something they have direct personal experience of. However, in the UK fourteen babies a day die before, during or soon after birth, so the chances are you …

A talk for Black History Month by Dr Susanne Seymour

Belper North Mill Trust are hosting a free talk on Zoom on Thursday 22 October at 7.00pm in which Dr Susanne Seymore will be discussing the contribution of enslaved African lives to the Strutts' cotton spinning industry at Belper. Susanne is Associate Professor in the School of Geography and a Deputy Director of the University …

Brinsley Colliery’s Connections to D.H. Lawrence

The industrial life of Nottinghamshire is a key feature in the life and work of David Herbert Lawrence. Most notable is that of Brinsley Colliery that is on the Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire border. The colliery features in a short story Odour of Chrysanthemums, written in 1909, and is used as a reference point for the Beggarlee Colliery …

Somewhere in this building…

For National Poetry Day we thought it might be nice to re-visit this wonderful poem written for the Record Office by Matt Black, inspired by a beautiful 1722 map of Risley and Breaston from our collection. Somewhere in this building on an old map, a ladder climbs quietly into the arms of an apple-tree. Once …