Necklace of Stars exhibition

Between 2020-2022 arthur+martha, a Community Interest Company specialising in arts and health, worked with housebound, isolated older people in Derbyshire to make “a necklace of stars” – an embroidered quilt with a poem border and a poetry/song soundtrack inspired by lullabies. The project was a collaboration between the artists and Arts Derbyshire, Derbyshire County Council …

Derby’s culinary link to the Coronation celebrations

A lemon and amaretti trifle has been announced as the official pudding for the Queen's Platinum Jubilee after winning the competition to find a new dessert. Delicious no doubt, but did you know that Derby has its own, more savoury culinary connection to Queen Elizabeth II's Coronation? Constance Fletcher was born in Derby in 1886 …

All the mod cons at The Great Derby & County Coronation Year Exhibition

The 1950s was a time of post-war innovation and modernisation, particularly in the home. Many families purchased or rented their first television set to watch the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II on 2nd June 1953.  Local businesses tapped into this period of optimism and excitement, using the Coronation in their advertisements and tying the most …

A Coronation celebration on an ambitious scale

As part of the celebrations to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II a Platinum Pageant is to be held at Buckingham Palace on 5th June. It promises to have all the excitement and spectacle of an international parade and carnival. In 1953, however, Derbyshire had a pageant all of its own. …

‘More of a palace than a place for bathing’

Many people, perhaps you as well, enjoy the luxurious experience of a day at the spa.  The practice of pampering oneself or treating others to a treatment or two is big business. 2020 saw the Buxton Crescent Health Spa and Hotel open to the public as a 5-star establishment offering luxury accommodation and spa treatments. …

Food that’s “not bad for the front!”

Regular subscribers to our blog and Twitter will know that we like to link our posts to the monthly themes of the Explore Your Archive and History Begins At Home archive campaigns. For February the themes are ‘letters’ and ‘food', respectively. One letter in our collection which immediately sprung to my mind was one written …

More online events from the record office

We are pleased to announce another three free online talks for the new year. Our first talk is our ever popular ‘Introduction to the Record Office’ – find out who we are and the services we offer, the collections we hold and how you can access them, whether in person or remotely. Talk: ‘Introduction to …

A guide to researching records of disability

The following guide lists a selection of sources which can be used to help uncover information about disability in the records held at Derbyshire Record Office. For the purpose of this guide the term disability is taken to be physical or sensory impairment and those long-term injuries or conditions which have historically been treated as …

‘Bryan Donkin – the man and his machines’ online exhibition

Here’s a question – have you at any point today handled a piece of paper, written with a pen or opened a tin can?  If so then your activities have been influenced by one of the most important, if little known, British engineers of the 19th century. Those of you who read our blog will …

Records of enslaved people

The following guide contains language which you may find offensive. Between the early 16th and mid-19th century, at least 12 million African people were enslaved and taken to the Americas.  These individuals were used as enforced labour in areas of major industry including the cultivation of sugar, tobacco, cotton, and coffee, on plantations, and in …