A guide to privately produced maps and how to find them Estate maps is the generic term for manuscript maps produced for individual landowners to document their property. Examples in the record office date from the 16th to the 20th centuries, may be on paper or parchment, and may vary in size from small sketch … Continue reading Estate Maps at Derbyshire Record Office
Author: Becky, Archivist
Health and social care in Derbyshire
A guide to the records of hospitals, health care professionals and public health, since the late 18th century Hospitals The earliest known “hospitals” in Derbyshire, as in many other parts of the country, were established by religious institutions (such as monasteries) during the 12th century. Many of these hospitals disappeared with the dissolution of the … Continue reading Health and social care in Derbyshire
Objects Left on the Doorstep – What Next?
This account, from Buxton Museum and Art Gallery, of dealing with donations and recording the provenance of collections all sounds very familiar
Do you have an object you’d like to donate to a museum? Derbyshire Museums Manager, Ros Westwood explains why it’s not as simple as bringing it in and handing it over, or in the case of one recent attempted donation, leaving it on the doorstep!
You’ll have seen the notice outside the charity shop: ‘Please don’t leave bags on the doorstep’. The same applies to any museum. There is good reason, not just that the bags are a trip hazard.
Almost the first thing that happened at the museum in 2023, even before the museum opened, was someone leaving 4 bags of ‘stuff’ on the doorstep. This is unusual. People who want to give something to the museum usually talk to one of the collections’ staff first.
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A guide to the archives of mental health services in Derbyshire
The lockdowns and traumas of 2020 and 2021 remind us more than ever of the importance of looking after our own mental health and supporting others with theirs. Today, even though society still has some way to go before the taboo of talking about our mental health is truly broken, understanding about mental health as … Continue reading A guide to the archives of mental health services in Derbyshire
A guide to our new Names and Places Search options
In April 2022, we introduced two new elements to our online catalogue - a Name and a Place Search. About the Place Search Contains key information about all Derbyshire townships and parishes as well as various other places in the UK and across the world that are mentioned in the archive and local studies collections. … Continue reading A guide to our new Names and Places Search options
(Re)-Introducing our online catalogue
Many of you may have noticed that a few weeks ago our online catalogue had rather a face-lift, but that we haven't actually mentioned it very much - until now! Part of the reason for this is that we were still making some final changes to the system (and we still have one slight technical … Continue reading (Re)-Introducing our online catalogue
Archives Collections Report 2021
Our archivists undertake a range of different tasks all geared towards helping people access the collections in our care. Of course, one of the main ways we do that is to catalogue the archives so they can be discovered in the first place. Here is a summary of what we were up to last year. … Continue reading Archives Collections Report 2021
Trade and telephone directories
A guide to the published directories available for Derbyshire. Trade directories In the 18th century, new publications appeared across the country containing details of trades and industry, as well as other useful information, for example about local government, individual towns and villages, local organisations and activities. Left: extract for Ashbourne from Kelly's Directory of Derbyshire, … Continue reading Trade and telephone directories
Derbyshire Hospitality
A guide to the history of Derbyshire's hospitality and its archives. Derbyshire, including but not limited to the Peak District, has been a popular tourist destination for at least 2000 years. Our local studies library has lots of published tourist guides and histories from the 18th century to the present day. This guide outlines the … Continue reading Derbyshire Hospitality
A Maroon victory in Jamaica & improving our catalogues
The following post contains offensive and oppressive language and themes, being direct quotes from the original documents. We believe it is important to retain the original language as it reflects the attitudes of the time. Like so many terms and names used to describe individuals and communities of African descent, ‘Maroon’ was originally used as … Continue reading A Maroon victory in Jamaica & improving our catalogues
Derbyshire Record Office 