Archives across the UK and Ireland are holding a range of talks and events, and online and in-house exhibitions during the week of 16-22 November to highlight their collections.
The Explore Your Archivecampaign highlights the essential and inspiring role of archives and brings to life some of the individuals, the tales and the adventures waiting to be explored in archives throughout the UK and Ireland.
The campaign encourages the public to discover the stories that are at the heart of their communities and their identities. It will inspire new visitors to visit archives to share the excitement and passion of finding unique treasures, historical records and artefacts. Events include:
- ‘Coming Home’, the National Railway Museum’s exhibition on wartime ambulance trains (pictured).
- The National Cooperative Archive’s display of objects charting the journey of bringing tea from plantations to our pots.
- Derbyshire Record Office’s ‘Regency story boxes’ inspired by Pride and Prejudice and Sharpe novels. These will contain tales of elopement, eyewitness accounts of the Battle of Waterloo and other artefacts telling the story of life up and downstairs in Regency Derbyshire.
The first Thames Valley History Festival will run from 1-17 November 2013 in the historic towns of Eton and Windsor. Each of the 40 events will take place in a venue of historic interest, and will range from lectures, panel conversations, Q&A sessions, to historical tours, photographic walks and much more.
The event is aimed at children and adults alike, with a wide range of presentations including The Wars of the Roses, the Polish Resistance, When Britain Burned the White House, British Intelligence during the Napoleonic Wars and One Hundred Years of Royal Babies.