Latest news

Allotments are an everyday sight, but their story is worth a second look. Having expanded during the two world wars, their tale reflects the history of the county. As part of the 20th Century Heritage Project we dug deeper into the history of allotments, their development and current status.   Over the past two years...

This week’s Online Resource we’re highlighting is our online archive catalogue, providing details of some of our archives, held in The Hive. Although the physical archives are closed, as The Hive is shut, you can still search our catalogue to see if we have what you are looking for. It covers items added over the...

A couple of years ago we produced A Slice of the Past, a booklet with recipes taken from the archives. A few have been tried out by staff, including Mince Pies and Almond Jumballs, and were very tasty. To coincide with the History Begins at Home campaign, promoting history at home, which this week is...

County organisations join together on major new People’s Collection Residents asked to donate objects, photos and documents from their Coronavirus experience to the collections of Museums Worcestershire and Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service Collections will record personal experiences in extraordinary times Whilst the residents of Worcestershire are living through the Covid-19 pandemic, Museums Worcestershire and...

While we are all so disconnected from the archives safely stored in the Hive strong rooms, it’s nice to remember some of the beautiful things we hold in the archives.  Some of our most beautiful books have marbled patterns along the edges of pages and on the inside sheets and luckily, one of our archive...

One of the things we suggest when people begin their family history is to ask the family and find out what people know and can tell you, and if there are certificates, photos, letters, diaries or other information which could help. Much of this won’t be in official records, and it can also save a...

Like many of you the last couple of months have been rather strange, and we are adapting to new ways of working. The Hive closed in the middle of March, but with ingenuity and commitment our staff have continued to work. We’ve been asked by a number of people what we are doing so thought...

We have thousands of amazing photos in our collections, covering the past 150 years, with some pictures of engraving taking us back even further. The text index for our main collection, Worcestershire Photographic Survey, which has over 80,000 images, is available to search via our website. You’ll need to wait until we reopen to view...

Over the past two years Worcestershire’s Historic Environment Record has been working to identify, record and better understand the significance of 20th Century buildings and public places across the County. Many more await discovery and assessment! Funded by Historic England, this project has also aimed to strengthen the public’s awareness and appreciation of ‘everyday’ 20th...

  Now in it’s fifth year, our trainee scheme is well established. Martina, Chris and Roland joined our archaeology team in early March 2020 – ideal timing to gain experience on our busy programme of fieldwork projects. Err… or not, as it turned out. Yep, you’ve guessed it: a global pandemic and national lockdown was...