Archive

In June 2016 we blogged about the exciting Strong Rooms project that Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service (WAAS) was taking part in. The Arts Council funded Strong Rooms Project is coming to a close at the end of February 2017 but Archives West Midlands will ensure a legacy for the art installation which toured the West...

Earlier in the year we posted a blog ‘Who put Bella in the wych elm‘ as part of our Monthly Mysteries series.  In it we hinted that the link with Clara Bauerle, the German singer and actress, was one which was still being actively explored.  We can now reveal that the researcher who was following...

In September 1963, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London opened an exhibition entitled Opus Anglicanum which celebrated the international reputation that England had developed for during the 13th century for luxury handmade embroideries that were sought by Kings and Queens, Popes, Cardinals and Bishops across Europe. Included within the V&A exhibition was the Salwarpe...

On Twitter on Tuesday we showed an advert from 1869 for Charles R Davies at 80 High Street, Worcester. A few people asked whether we knew any more about him so we had a look. We have found very little. Checking the census the only match appears to be a Charles Rowland Davies born in...

Happy Thanksgiving Day to all our American friends! The first Thanksgiving is said to have taken place in 1621, when 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims, including two Worcestershire men, ate together at Plymouth Colony to celebrate a successful harvest. The event was described by Edward Winslow, one of the men who travelled on the...

Worcestershire Archive Service is in the process of cataloguing a collection of four volumes that were deposited with us by Homery Folkes, an architect, local historian and noted antiquarian. These volumes contain newspaper cuttings, postcards, photographs and drawings reproducing architectural details and images from nature.  Obviously the work of someone very interested in architecture –...

The Quarter Sessions are a great source of stories. They contain all sorts of crimes and disputes from across the county, which the Justices of the Peace had to adjudicate on with the help of juries. Over the years volunteers have indexed these which help people to search through for particular people and places, and...

The 29th September marks the Feast of St Michael and All Angels, often shortened to Michaelmas. In the liturgical year of the Church it celebrates the Archangel. It is a popular dedication to parish churches, including Salwarpe, Stoke Prior, Cropthorne, Great Comberton, Tenbury and in Worcester the church which stood next to the Cathedral. St...

Statue of Queen Victoria in 1950 Image taken from the Worcestershire Photographic Survey, register no. 456 Are you enjoying the ITV series Victoria? Queen Victoria’s long reign was celebrated across the country in many ways including statues in many towns and cities. In Worcester there is a statue of Queen Victoria outside Shire Hall (now...

One of the unexpected surprises in my work as Book and Paper Conservator at The Hive is revealing hidden materials that have been used in the construction of bound volumes. Termed ‘Printer’s Waste’ this material forms part of a long tradition of bookbinders using material to hand when a book is constructed.  The process can...