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Latest news |
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Latest news |
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The new Dorset History Forum got off to a great start on 27 March 2007 when over eighty local historians and representatives from a wide range of local groups came together to hear John Chandler and David Hayns talk about all the advantages of a county based local history organisation. A steering group has been formed. For more details contact Jacqui Halewood, Principal Archivist, Dorset History Centre, Bridport Road, Dorchester DT1 1RP, tel: 01305 250550, email: archives@dorsetcc.gov.uk, www.blandfordtownmuseum.org/ dorset_history_forum.htm. The Second World War Experience Centre is ‘a small charity with a big mission’ Their aim is ‘to collect, document, preserve, exhibit and encourage access to the surviving material evidence and associated information of the men and women who participated in the war in whatever capacity whether military, civilian or conscientious objector’. They are currently looking for organisations and businesses to sponsor individual memory boxes in their archives. For £2,000 the box will be branded with your logo or contact details ‘for life’ and you will receive a certificate describing the contents of the sponsored memory box. If you are a business ‘the cost is deductible from your profits for corporate tax purposes’. Contact Sponsor a Box of Memories, The Second World War Experience Centre, 5 Feast Field, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 4TJ, tel: 0113 2584993, email: enquiries@war-experience.org, www.war-experience.org. The British Library’s Newspaper Library has begun the process of moving from Colindale in north west London to Boston Spa in Yorkshire. By the time the move is complete in 2012 copies of all the newspapers and periodicals should be available in London either on microfilm or in a digitised form. For more information visit www.bl.uk/collections/newspapers.html. The next Archive Awareness Campaign begins on 5 September 2007 and continues until the end of the year. Local and national archives, large and small, public and private, general and specialist will open their doors to celebrate the wealth of archive material across the UK. This year’s theme is ‘Freedom and Liberty’ and will promote and relate to historical events and issues ranging from the abolition of the slave trade to feminism. The Campaign’s website already lists a number of events and displays which have been organised in different parts of the UK. Archives matter and we will be taking a closer look at what archives have to offer local historians with an interest in learning more about those individuals and organisations in their own communities who have campaigned for freedom and liberty. For more information visit www.local-history.co.uk/calendar.html or www.archiveawareness.com. 28,000 boxes of archives and 3,000 maps have been moved to the new Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre in Chippenham, where Archive staff have already begun the task of unpacking in readiness for the centre’s opening on 31 October 2007. The new centre has been built at a cost of £11.6 million and to the highest standards, which should ensure that the county’s archives are safe and accessible for decades to come. We hope to carry more news (and photographs) closer to the official opening date. In the meantime, the web is the best way of keeping in touch with what is happening (although some of the information had not been updated for over a year). Visit www.wiltshire.gov.uk/history-centre-project.htm. The Bagshaw Museum in Batley, West Yorkshire, is looking for stories from people who live in the town or have other connections to share not only their memories, but anything they think is less likely to be common knowledge. Do you have a photograph showing someone doing a job which was once commonplace, but is now forgotten by almost everyone? A dark secret maybe about a local event or place which has gone un-recorded until now? The Museum is currently closed as a major refurbishment is taking place with the help of a £419,000 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. When it re-opens in February 2008 there will be a new gallery devoted to the history of Batley and two ‘Batley Stories’ rooms — hence the appeal for people to contact them. Contact Mushuda Shaikh, Kirklees Museums & Galleries, tel: 01484 223799, email: mashuda.shaikh@kirklees.gov.uk. Mining museums in Cornwall and South Australia are working together to share and discover new information about miners and their families who went from Cornwall to Australia after the discovery of large quantities of copper in the area which later became known as Moonta. In many ways the miners created a little Cornwall, since the families took their traditions and beliefs with them and constructed mines and homes in much the same way they did in England. The findings will be displayed in an exhibition at both museums towards the end of 2007. The Geevor Tin Mine Museum & Heritage Centre near Penzance and the Moonta Mines, near Adelaide, are both very pleased with the response to their appeal for information. Contact Geevor Tin Mine, Pendeen, Penzance, Cornwall TR19 7EW, tel: 01736 788662, www.geevor.com. I could find no direct web link for the Moonta mines, but there is an excellent printable guide to mining in South Australia at www.history.sa.gov.au/chu/programs/ history_conference/GregDrew.pdf. |
9 August 2007 |
