Archive

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk. Within the archives are stories of this event by Worcestershire people, recorded as part of our WWII oral history project carried our 20-25 years ago. The operation, codenamed ‘Operation Dynamo’ which took place between 27 May and 4 June 1940, is...

Thanks to those of you who had a go at Almond Jumballs and sent in your photos. Rebecca’s are pictured below, which we were told were very almondy and tasty. Historical Shaped Biscuits Within the Slice of the Past recipe book, containing recipes taken from the archives, is one for Gingerbread. Gingerbread biscuits have been...

A common question we get asked is ‘Do you have any maps?’. The answer is a resounding yes – tens of thousands of them covering 400 years. How can you find out what maps we have? Most of the maps from the archives are listed on an online searchable index which you can search at...

A chance find brought to the attention of one of our team helping a neighbour that adds to a bold story of Worcester. In April our archaeologists were all working at home, so our Find of the Month is a little different. A Corn Exchange Free entry token.  Described against their example by the British...

An unusual find from the Worcester Porcelain factory where you would normally think of richly decorated find pottery such as in January’s find of the month, but it tells an interesting WWII story of how a small component made a big difference in our lives. Our archaeologists were working on a site by The Royal...

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...