Welcoming visitors back to the record office and improving our catalogue

We are so pleased to be inviting customers back to the record office when we re-open at 10 o'clock on Tuesday 13 April. As you might expect there are a few changes to the way we are operating at the moment... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsmnDUSdCaw If you are thinking of visiting the record office, one of the main …

Putting colour into the past

If you have followed our blog for a while, you will know that one of our favourite subjects is Sir John Franklin and his lost expedition to discover the northwest passage from the Atlantic ocean to the Pacific via the Arctic. On 16 May 1845, the officers of Franklin's expedition had their photographs taken by …

#ArchivesFromHome

When the country first went into lockdown in March 2020, I wrote about the tasks we would be working on while we were unable to access the archive and local studies collections. Of course, none of us still expected to be working from home a year later, and although we will be re-opening our onsite …

Finding Derbyshire Business archives

A guide to finding the archives of Derbyshire businesses. Derbyshire Record Office holds nearly 1000 collections for businesses and trades across the county and city of Derby, primarily for the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, although some date as early as the 16th century.  Amongst the largest of these collections are: D1851 Bryan Donkin and …

New catalogues now available for Chesterfield collections

During 2020, we did add a small number of these to the online catalogue (for example, D9 Dakeyne of Darley), and work continues to process the remaining drafts and recent transfers, so there are lots more to come this year. Last week, catalogues for several collections that were transferred to us from the Local Studies …

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, …

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 …

An Insider’s View of north Derbyshire Libraries around 1950 – part 2 (Buxton)

Last week, Roger shared some stories from Dora Axon relating to her experiences as a librarian in Whaley Bridge and Chapel-en-le-Frith; this week, we hear about her experiences in Buxton, where she started work in 1949. At this time the library at Buxton was the responsibility of the borough council, in contrast to the libraries …

An Insider’s View of north Derbyshire Libraries around 1950

Nearly 40 years ago, the record office purchased a small bundle of letters primarily sent to Charles Kay Ogden, the founder of the Orthological Institute which was concerned chiefly with the development of Basic English.  Cataloguing volunteer, Roger Jennens, has recently listed all the letters and here he writes of the rich observations they contain …

When family history becomes a little more complex…

Very few family historians are able to trace their ancestors back through the civil and parish registers without hitting some kind of complication, whether that be a “missing” entry, an “extra” entry making it unclear which is correct, the resettlement of their family elsewhere or other issue.  Often, such cases can be resolved with a …