Mary Burgess
@cambliblife.bsky.social
Local history author and researcher. Local Studies Librarian for Cambridgeshire Libraries - usually found in the Cambridgeshire Collection. Bit deaf 🦻. She/they.
Pinned
Mary Burgess
@cambliblife.bsky.social
· Aug 19
Well, I've finally made my way onto here. Interested in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire in particular and local history and libraries in general.
Off to the Friends Meeting House in Jesus Lane later to do a talk for a group. But did you know it was the first home of Cambridge Central Library? The library opened there for the first time on 28th June 1855, before moving to the back of the Guildhall in 1862 and into Lion Yard in 1975.
November 13, 2025 at 12:16 PM
Off to the Friends Meeting House in Jesus Lane later to do a talk for a group. But did you know it was the first home of Cambridge Central Library? The library opened there for the first time on 28th June 1855, before moving to the back of the Guildhall in 1862 and into Lion Yard in 1975.
New donation today of negatives by Horace Jack Casselden, a photographer in Ely from the 1960s through to the 1980s. They've newly arrived on the library van from the Littleport Society and I'm looking forward to having a look through them.
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 PM
New donation today of negatives by Horace Jack Casselden, a photographer in Ely from the 1960s through to the 1980s. They've newly arrived on the library van from the Littleport Society and I'm looking forward to having a look through them.
It's my turn as the #SaturdayLibrarian this week and I headed over to Cherry Hinton Library this morning to give them a hand running our Virtual Reality experience sessions. Everybody really enjoyed themselves and it was a nice change to be able to walk to work!
November 8, 2025 at 3:12 PM
It's my turn as the #SaturdayLibrarian this week and I headed over to Cherry Hinton Library this morning to give them a hand running our Virtual Reality experience sessions. Everybody really enjoyed themselves and it was a nice change to be able to walk to work!
It's been packed here in the Collection today - more people in then we've had in ages. Mr Green and his hot air balloon has been popular recently. He regularly ascended from land in Barnwell, often ending up rather far away, travelling 50 miles to Wellingborough on the Tuesday 19th May 1829.
November 7, 2025 at 3:04 PM
It's been packed here in the Collection today - more people in then we've had in ages. Mr Green and his hot air balloon has been popular recently. He regularly ascended from land in Barnwell, often ending up rather far away, travelling 50 miles to Wellingborough on the Tuesday 19th May 1829.
We'll be having an exhibition of Sam Motherwell's art in Cambridge Central library - the launch is next week on Friday 14th Nov 3-4pm. More details at www.eventbrite.com/e/sam-mother... The exhibition itself will be up untill 19th December. You can see more about Sam at sammotherwell.weebly.com
November 5, 2025 at 12:55 PM
We'll be having an exhibition of Sam Motherwell's art in Cambridge Central library - the launch is next week on Friday 14th Nov 3-4pm. More details at www.eventbrite.com/e/sam-mother... The exhibition itself will be up untill 19th December. You can see more about Sam at sammotherwell.weebly.com
Heads up - copy wills are going back to being expensive again, so get your requests in now. Lasting Power of Attorney fees are going up too, so a good time to get yours sorted out. todayswillsandprobate.co.uk/copy-probate...
November 4, 2025 at 9:28 AM
Heads up - copy wills are going back to being expensive again, so get your requests in now. Lasting Power of Attorney fees are going up too, so a good time to get yours sorted out. todayswillsandprobate.co.uk/copy-probate...
The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society have very kindly paid for our new A3 negative scanner. IT are here to install it and I'm looking forward to giving it a go.
November 3, 2025 at 1:16 PM
The Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society have very kindly paid for our new A3 negative scanner. IT are here to install it and I'm looking forward to giving it a go.
Heading out for a day in Wisbech - realised that now my commute is on an electric bus it feels really weird to feel the engine idling at bus stops
October 30, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Heading out for a day in Wisbech - realised that now my commute is on an electric bus it feels really weird to feel the engine idling at bus stops
It's our quarterly team lunch today, so here's some pictures of the Cambridge Civic Restaurant, the post war version of the British Restaurant. Here's the inside in 1963 and a fire at the shoe shop opposite in 1970, but it does give you a good idea of where the Civic Restaurant was in Petty Cury.
October 28, 2025 at 11:29 AM
It's our quarterly team lunch today, so here's some pictures of the Cambridge Civic Restaurant, the post war version of the British Restaurant. Here's the inside in 1963 and a fire at the shoe shop opposite in 1970, but it does give you a good idea of where the Civic Restaurant was in Petty Cury.
It's rather windy today, so here's a couple of our windmill photographs. Here's a couple of our mills that still survived. We've got Wicken Mill on the left in 1892 and Fulbourn Mill on the right, in the 1930s.
October 27, 2025 at 11:42 AM
It's rather windy today, so here's a couple of our windmill photographs. Here's a couple of our mills that still survived. We've got Wicken Mill on the left in 1892 and Fulbourn Mill on the right, in the 1930s.
I'm helping out with our sold out event about medicine tonight, so here's some Red Cross nurses. The ones with the cups is from the 1930s and we know very little about it, so if you recognise anybody do let me know! The other one is Whittlesford Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital in September 1916
October 22, 2025 at 1:50 PM
I'm helping out with our sold out event about medicine tonight, so here's some Red Cross nurses. The ones with the cups is from the 1930s and we know very little about it, so if you recognise anybody do let me know! The other one is Whittlesford Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital in September 1916
We're off to Barrington today, to their cement works in the 1960s. It is famous for having the last standard gauge quarry railway, which ran until 2005. Barrington was the last cement working in Cambridgeshire before closing in 2008.
October 21, 2025 at 12:15 PM
We're off to Barrington today, to their cement works in the 1960s. It is famous for having the last standard gauge quarry railway, which ran until 2005. Barrington was the last cement working in Cambridgeshire before closing in 2008.
Academic dress is the topic today - here's Teddy Roosevelt in full rig at the honorary degree ceremony at Cambridge University in 1910. From left to right are the two esquire Bedells with their maces, Theodore Roosevelt, the Vice-Chancellor Canon Mason and the University Marshall in top hat.
October 20, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Academic dress is the topic today - here's Teddy Roosevelt in full rig at the honorary degree ceremony at Cambridge University in 1910. From left to right are the two esquire Bedells with their maces, Theodore Roosevelt, the Vice-Chancellor Canon Mason and the University Marshall in top hat.
One of these days I'm going to get my head around all the different nonconformist chapels in Cambridge and how they all split, combined and changed religions. Until then, here's pictures of Eden Street Baptist, now part of the Grafton Centre, and the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Newmarket Road
October 17, 2025 at 11:57 AM
One of these days I'm going to get my head around all the different nonconformist chapels in Cambridge and how they all split, combined and changed religions. Until then, here's pictures of Eden Street Baptist, now part of the Grafton Centre, and the Primitive Methodist Chapel on Newmarket Road
Threshing with traction engines is the theme today with two photos, one from Guilden Morden and the other from the Wilbrahams (not sure if it's Great or Little)
October 16, 2025 at 12:38 PM
Threshing with traction engines is the theme today with two photos, one from Guilden Morden and the other from the Wilbrahams (not sure if it's Great or Little)
It's Cambridge bin ladies today - during the First World War women did lots of jobs that were previously men's work, including keeping the place clean and tidy. Here's Cambridge Corporation dust cart crew number 1 and number 6 with their uniforms and equipment.
October 15, 2025 at 2:55 PM
It's Cambridge bin ladies today - during the First World War women did lots of jobs that were previously men's work, including keeping the place clean and tidy. Here's Cambridge Corporation dust cart crew number 1 and number 6 with their uniforms and equipment.
On the way back from a very enjoyable trip to The National Archives with work. Great to see behind the scenes.
October 13, 2025 at 4:19 PM
On the way back from a very enjoyable trip to The National Archives with work. Great to see behind the scenes.
I'm back from my holiday, it's the monthly #SaturdayLibrarian shift and my colleague has just handed me my new favourite item, newly donated! Of course everybody needs a box of pub sign cocktail sticks for Cambridgeshire. Looks like from eBay that Whitbread did sets of these covering the country.
October 11, 2025 at 9:00 AM
I'm back from my holiday, it's the monthly #SaturdayLibrarian shift and my colleague has just handed me my new favourite item, newly donated! Of course everybody needs a box of pub sign cocktail sticks for Cambridgeshire. Looks like from eBay that Whitbread did sets of these covering the country.
Managed to find Bournemouth Central Library yesterday. I was particularly impressed with the excellent local studies section. Also saw St Peter's church and the tomb of the Shelly family
October 9, 2025 at 8:27 AM
Managed to find Bournemouth Central Library yesterday. I was particularly impressed with the excellent local studies section. Also saw St Peter's church and the tomb of the Shelly family
Headed over to Bournemouth for a few days - you don't get beaches like this in Norfolk! Really enjoyed visiting the Russell-Cotes Museum yesterday as well.
October 8, 2025 at 8:01 AM
Headed over to Bournemouth for a few days - you don't get beaches like this in Norfolk! Really enjoyed visiting the Russell-Cotes Museum yesterday as well.
Headed out yesterday in Storm Amy for the AGM of the local history society, but also nipped in to see the newly refurbished Rock Road Library. It was very busy indeed, hence no interior photographs, but it's looking very nice. Lovely new ceiling windows really brighten up the place.
October 5, 2025 at 8:15 PM
Headed out yesterday in Storm Amy for the AGM of the local history society, but also nipped in to see the newly refurbished Rock Road Library. It was very busy indeed, hence no interior photographs, but it's looking very nice. Lovely new ceiling windows really brighten up the place.
We're having a drop in session sharing South Asian memories of the Second World War together with the Imperial War Museum on 14th October 1-5pm in our new Everyspace area on the third floor of Cambridge Central Library. See www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-so... for more details and do spread the word!
Sharing South Asian Voices in the Second World War
Come and have a chat with the Imperial War Museums
www.eventbrite.com
October 3, 2025 at 1:59 PM
We're having a drop in session sharing South Asian memories of the Second World War together with the Imperial War Museum on 14th October 1-5pm in our new Everyspace area on the third floor of Cambridge Central Library. See www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-so... for more details and do spread the word!
I'm off to Soham tomorrow to talk about the history of transport in Cambridgeshire. It'll be 10-11am at Soham Library. Here's Soham Bapist Sunday School on an outing in 1923, with a steam traction engine pulling 5 waggons of children down the High Street.
October 1, 2025 at 8:31 AM
I'm off to Soham tomorrow to talk about the history of transport in Cambridgeshire. It'll be 10-11am at Soham Library. Here's Soham Bapist Sunday School on an outing in 1923, with a steam traction engine pulling 5 waggons of children down the High Street.
The Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society are one of the best sources for Cambridgeshire archaeology and local history and they're available for free online at archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/brow...
archaeologydataservice.ac.uk
September 30, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society are one of the best sources for Cambridgeshire archaeology and local history and they're available for free online at archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/brow...
It's all fairgrounds and amusements here today - have Billy Smart's circus elephants wandering through Cambridge.
September 29, 2025 at 3:00 PM
It's all fairgrounds and amusements here today - have Billy Smart's circus elephants wandering through Cambridge.