- 9th December 2016
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...
- 2nd December 2016
Wow. You loved this image of the River Severn frozen at Bewdley in 1895 (we’d misread it at first as 1898). It has been viewed over 35,000 times on Facebook, liked over 1500 times, shared over 300 times and received lots of comments. We’ve had a look to see what the newspapers said about this...
- 25th November 2016
Philip Astley was credited with being the ‘father’ of the modern circus when he opened the first circus in 1768 in England . Early circuses were almost exclusively demonstrations of equestrian skills with a few other types of acts to link the horsemanship performances. Circus performances today are still held in a ring usually 13 m...
- 25th November 2016
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...
- 24th November 2016
After the 1903 Act, it became mandatory to register motor vehicles with the County Council or Borough in which the driver was resident. Each City and County, and some Boroughs were allocated registrations that consisted of one or two letters to which a number could be added. The first registration issued in Worcestershire was AB...
- 24th November 2016
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...
- 23rd November 2016
Our Learning and Outreach team have been busy giving a behind the scenes tour as part of Explore Your Archive week. For those not able to undertake the tour, here is an idea of some of the things that happen on a day at the archives Our Conservator has been working on some 1853 Quarter...
- 22nd November 2016
The word wigs comes from “periwigs” which was the name of the particular long, curly wigs that became popular after Charles II was returned to the throne in 1660. They were used to simulate real hair and primarily used for adornment. However at the time, head lice were everywhere, and nitpicking was painful and time-consuming. Wigs stopped lice infesting...
- 21st November 2016
The earliest-known black person in Worcestershire whose name we know is believed to be Henry Antonie Jetto. The first reference to him is in a parish register dating back to the late 16th century. The discovery was made by his 11x great-grandson whilst tracing his family history at the Worcestershire History Centre before we moved...
- 19th November 2016
Last year Explore Your Archive week saw us feature some extraordinary people with links to Worcestershire. As part of this we held an exhibition of some of the archives and held a successful drop in day featuring talks about the individuals we featured. During the course of the day it was wonderful to meet some of...