Mining the Seams Exhibition

It’s been a long time since there was an exhibition in our vitrine wall which separates reception and the search room. Now though we have the exhibition space full of archival material again for our first exhibition on display in nearly three years. The exhibition showcases just some of the many items from the National …

Markham Colliery Online Exhibition

The Arts and Humanities Research Council have been funding a joint project with the University of Wolverhampton and Northumbria University, known as 'On Behalf of the People', which focuses on coal mining communities from the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947, right up until 1994 when collieries were winding down. Eight different case studies …

Leonard Cheshire Photographic Exhibition

This is not a directly Derbyshire post, but our followers may be interested in an exhibition in Burton-on-Trent curated by the Leonard Cheshire Archive (based in South Derbyshire). Royalty Carers and Residents, Leonard Cheshire life through the eyes of a Fleet Street photographer features the work of Norman Potter (a Fleet Street photographer who worked …

Developing an archive service for Derbyshire

In April 1962, Miss Joan Sinar was appointed as the first County Archivist for Derbyshire. In the 55 years since this landmark was reached, whilst much has changed at the Record Office the basic principle of preserving Derbyshire's archival heritage and providing access to it has remained constant. However, 1962 may not have been the …

Archives at the Abbey: 1 (un)stately home, 4 boxes, 8 hours, 600 visitors (well almost)

It was the busiest weekend I think we have ever had for staff from the record office, you have already heard about how we popped up at the Wirksworth Festival, which sounded amazing. I couldn't make it along myself as I went along to Calke Abbey, home of the Harpur-Crewe family, with a small selection …

Scaling the Matlock Mountain!

  If you happened to be in Matlock this lunchtime, you may have noticed a bit of an event going on! If you weren't there, and were wondering what all the fuss was about i.e. cyclists, spectators, sirens, police motorbikes and cheering schoolchildren, it was the Women's Tour - a professional women's cycling race, which had a whole …

Have bike, will travel – a splendid celebration of cycling

Thursday 5th May saw the start of our latest 'What's in the Wall?' exhibitions.  Running (or should I say pedalling?) until the 30th July, 'Have bike, will travel' is a comprehensive collection of items from our Local Studies and Archives, ranging from the late 19th century to the present day. Many of the photographs are courtesy …

New Flickr exhibition from De Montfort University

Have you seen the new exhibition from the Archives Team at De Montfort University?  The exhibition takes a chronological look at prospectus design for the college and later university from 1897 to the present. There are some interesting hairstyles (no prizes for guessing which decades these are from!) and some interesting design concepts over time. I wonder …

A Sense of Place

DRO visitors will have seen our latest vitrine wall exhibition, A Sense of Place, focusing on the Local Studies Library's Local Authors collection.  Inspired by a booklet published by former local studies librarian Ruth Gordon, we highlight Derbyshire-connected writers from Erasmus Darwin to Richmal Crompton to Stephen Booth, and the varied depictions in print of the Derbyshire …

National Libraries Day

This Saturday, the 8th of February, is National Libraries Day - an opportunity to celebrate libraries and library services across the UK. Visitors to the Record Office will have seen the exhibition in our reception -  'I Didn't Know You'd Got That!' - showcasing the range of material held in the County Local Studies Library collections.  From …