Sir Tony Robinson

Sarah Jane, Tony Robinson and I

Archivist Sarah Jane and I were recently lucky enough to attend a talk given by Sir Tony Robinson at Cornwall Records Office in association with ancestry.co.uk about his interest in history and genealogy.

His talk gave an interesting perspective on digitised records and how it has transformed the way many people go about genealogical searches due to the introduction of such websites as ancestry.co.uk.

I especially enjoyed hearing about how he became interested in history through his father who fought in World War II and was fascinated by the subject himself. It is particularly inspiring how Tony did not study the subject further than O levels but he went on to become television’s best loved amateur historian through pure passion and enthusiasm.

His talk was also very amusing and included many anecdotes from his time with Blackadder and Time Team, as well as touching references to Mick Aston.


Tickets for the talk were well oversubscribed and this celebrity endorsement was great promotion for Cornwall Records Office. They are in the planning stages of building a much larger purpose-build history centre in Redruth to relocate to and this allowed staff a chance to have a chat with visitors after the talk about the plans and to gage some informal feedback.

Whist here the visitors were offered the chance for a tour of the strong rooms to see their extensive holdings. CRO holds over four miles of records and it was interesting to see an archive of such a scale. Some particular gems included a beautifully illustrated Elizabethan document and letters that belonged to John Couch Adams, the man who discovered Neptune.


Some of the many holdings at Cornwall Records Office

I really enjoyed my evening and it was interesting to think about how the way people go about genealogy searches is changing and how talks such as these are a great informal way for an archive like CRO to reach out and chat to those interested in new projects.

Women In Industry - St Ives Archive

I was recently given the chance to visit St Ives archive and attend their Hidden Histories: Women in Industry event. As a trainee, visiting other archives is important because it not only allows you to make links locally but it is also a chance to learn more about the different kinds of archives that are out there.

St Ives would be best described as a ‘community archive’, which means it is predominantly run by volunteers and does not employ a trained Archivist. Communityarchives.org.uk defines these archives as ‘groups of evidence brought together by people sharing an interest in finding out about their community and how it developed’.  They are effectively run by the community, for the community, without which some aspects their history would have been lost. This kind of archive is a considerable contributor to the sector as ‘30,000 volunteers are estimated to be actively engaged with community archives throughout the UK’.



St. Ives Archive

St Ives archive is currently working with The Hypatia Trust as part of the History 51 project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund to highlight and celebrate the role of women in Cornwall’s history and the focus of this Hidden History: Women in Industry event was on the almost forgotten years of thriving textile industry that were once here.

There were four major textile companies located in Downalong, between the 1930s and 1970s; Crysede, Flawns (owned by John Lewis), Hamptons, Berketex and Fryers, all of which had a predominantly female workforce.

Beautiful example of Crysede clothing

 

Many former employees were invited along to join in the celebrations and it was a great opportunity to record their memories as part of an oral history initiative. There were also detailed, informative displays with a slideshow of images of the factories from the archive to help trigger memories. This was accompanied by examples of camouflage net making as these were produced in the factories during WWII.



One of the many interesting displays

Photographs from the archive alongside examples of camouflage nets and textiles

Communityarchives.org.uk explains that ‘enthusiasm is the lifeblood of community archives’ and this was the thing that really drove this event and made it a success. It was clear the volunteers had worked incredibly hard to put this all together and bringing to light this history was a real service to their community.
 

One lady kindly offered to teach me to knit using the original wooden needles and pattern!

It got me thinking about the importance of community events for archives more widely. St. Ives archive had donations made on the day and they received excellent local press coverage, with even the mayor making an appearance, which only helps to increase local awareness of an archive. They also invited Judy from the John Lewis Archive, who brought along records which filled some gaps in the information held in their archives and, most strikingly, the locals and former employees felt their heritage was valued.

Local involvement is something that does not have to be exclusive to community archives and in the past the Archive and Special Collections, here at the Penryn campus, have had very successful events that were open to the public. For example last year’s Public History Day, which you can read about on Grace’s blog, was an event where the people who had connections with Tremough House were invited to revisit. Unexpected donations were made on the day and CAVA (Cornish Audio Visual Archive) carried out interviews to capture memories of the estate.

With this in mind, the success of this Hidden Histories event has really emphasised to me the importance of these outreach initiatives. On the train home my mind was reeling with ideas, such as whether we could expand this further with archive events for former employees of Dartington College of Arts or an event for past and present members of Kneehigh and Wildworks to capture moments in history before they are lost. The possibilities are endless…

My First Enquiry: The Case of the Missing Tools...

As part of being a Graduate Trainee, you will often deal directly with answering enquiries and I was very excited to get a rather mysterious one as my first.

Colin, the enquirer, is co-writing a book which explores the history of Magdalen tin mine and he was searching for some wooden mining tools that were believed to have been found there in 1920, dating from 150 years prior. It was thought the tools in question were donated to a local museum but after contacting several in the area, he could not find any trace of them, and so got in touch with us in the hope that we may have record of their donation to the CSM Museum.

When I came to Cornwall I knew that mining was going to be a large and interesting part of the local history and our CSM archive does seem to attract a lot of interest from students and the general public alike so I was excited to get started.

After having had a long look through the CSM Magazines covering the 1920’s in hope of any mention, after nothing having surfaced in the CALM catalogue, I proceeded to search the Justin Brooke Mining Index.

Justin Brooke was an enthusiastic mining researcher and these documents detail his findings about Mining Companies in Cornwall so it can be very useful for identifying where to look next.

Having had no luck and whilst I was already mentally planning my ‘Unfortunately I did not find…’ response, I suddenly was caught by this extract from the entry for Magdalen Mine Limited 1924-1930:

‘Old equipment found in the mine included wooden pumps, an iron working barrel or pump cylinder, a wooden dish, a joint-ring from a door-piece, with the balshag wrapped around it still in excellent condition, and a 4” cast-iron pipe. These were presented (or loaned) to the Falmouth Museum, together with a collection of minerals from the mine’.

It was my first eureka moment!

After having excitedly relayed this information, I realised that the thing I have been most struck by in this whole process is the way in which, research will quite often open up just as many questions as it answers, as currently no ‘Falmouth Museum’ exists…

And finally the response that made my day! (Can I have this framed?!):

Hi Rosemary,

That is so super, excellent, fantastic news! You may not have them but I feel you might as well have for my elation at your news. My co-author thought I was wasting my time and that they were lost in time. They may still be of course, but the information you provide gives me some more leads to follow.

Hugs all round ... virtually, of course!

Thank you so, so much.

Colin ... One very happy customer!!

 
It has been very gratifying to be able to help someone in their research and to act as a bit of a detective.

Do you know what ‘Falmouth Museum’ may be referring to?

Have you had an interesting discovery through using an archive?

Meet the Collections: Charles Woolf

‘Hints for New Students... 18. Don’t forget an umbrella’

-          1927 Camborne School of Mines Magazine

After my first few weeks here, I am now settling into life in Cornwall. I have been to an Oyster Festival, eaten a Rhubarb and Custard Pasty and have been blown around all over the place by the windy weather.

I definitely think this tip from the 1927 CSM magazine for new students is still a very wise one!

In the office there is a running joke about how there should be a Trainee Anorak that is passed down to the new recruit each year!

With the weather included however, I am realising just how beautiful Cornwall is and this is really well captured in our Charles Woolf Slide Collection. 

Acer Japonicum (Japanese Maple)

 

Charles Woolf was a photographer whose love affair with all things Cornish began when he first visited the County in 1933. After making Newquay his permanent home in 1935, Woolf opened his own photographic business at Chester Road. In addition to the everyday business, he and his assistant Joyce Greenham would utilise their skills to capture many aspects of Cornish life and environment.

Frozen lake, Trenance Gardens, 1954 Feb 6

Many of these slides have been digitalised and are spanning the period 1953 – 1981, and as I sit here on this autumnal afternoon, I am instantly drawn to these pictures of Cornwall through the seasons.

 

Gathering daffodils in St. Dominic, 1960



Charles Woolf's father and his dog, circa 1953

Hello!

A little bit about me

My name is Rosemary Everritt and I am very happy to introduce myself as the new Graduate Trainee Archive Assistant at Archive & Special Collections, Falmouth University & University of Exeter, Penryn Campus for 2013-2014.

I hope to use this blog, throughout the year, to track my journey into the world of archives, whilst I undertake this traineeship. I hope that I can introduce to you some of the tasks that a Graduate Trainee is likely to encounter, as well as showing you some interesting items in the collections that I come across along the way- and why you too should discover archives!

I know I found it helpful and interesting to read Mary’s and Graces’ blogs whilst I was learning about archives, so I hope that mine can perhaps go some way to being similarly useful for you.

Having relocated from Portsmouth for this post, I can't wait to explore Cornwall and its heritage whilst I am here. So far I have become particularly intrigued by the Cornish language used in the Gorsedh Kernow Collection! Diskudha Kovskrifenn, as is in my title, translates as 'discovering an archive'.

A selection of books held in The Chris Brooks Collection of Victorian Culture

 

 How I discovered archives

Over the last few years I have been volunteering in archives whilst studying English Literature at University of Portsmouth, most recently for The Arthur Conan Doyle Collection. Prior to this I also volunteered for the Dickens Community Archive Project with Portsmouth City Museum which sought to create a website highlighting the recent history of Portsmouth and its residents in celebration of Dickens’ bicentenary. Before this, I first of all carried out an internship with my local theatre as it began to set up an archive.

Therefore it was the study of literature and a personal interest in history that brought me to archives so now I can’t wait to have a peek at the Chris Brooks Collection of Victorian Culture, here at the Penryn Campus, with all those lovely Victorian novels!

I hope that this blog might be helpful in some way and I would love to hear from you about your interests in archives or these collections specifically, so please do feel free to get in touch.