#ArchiveOfTheWeek
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek are records of the Derby Hebrew Congregation, founded on 5 April 1899 and closed in 1986. In June 1949 the Congregation celebrated its Golden Jubilee which included a dinner at the Assembly Rooms at the Market Place in Derby.

#EYAReligion/Spirituality
Programme for a dinner to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of the Derby Hebrew Congregation on 22nd June 1949. It is printed on cream card with gold lettering.
November 11, 2025 at 2:20 PM
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It 's not quite winter yet, but the cold weather is heading our way. Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is a recording of Brian Gill remembering being inspired to travel from Sheffield into the Hope Valley to walk during the famous heavy snow of 1947.

#1940s #weather
November 4, 2025 at 1:47 PM
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Take a peek into the #1700s with our #ArchiveOfTheWeek, Derby Borough Quarter Sessions. It dealt with all sorts: road repair, illegitimate children and all kinds of petty crime, like the theft of a quilted petticoat, apron and fine woollen gown from a garden in Nov 1758.
An open archive folder containing loose documents written in 18th century handwriting. A statement by Dorothy Ford dated 21 November 1758 stating that: she had taken or stolen out of the Garden on Backside belonging to Anthony Clough in the Parish of Saint Werburgh in the said Borough one Quilted Petticoat, one white apron, one white Scotch Cloth Handkerchief, and one Black Shalloon Gown which she had hung in the said Garden on Backside to dry, and that she suspects the same to be stoln [sic] by some person or persons within the said Borough.
October 28, 2025 at 11:24 AM
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In #BlackHistoryMonth our #ArchiveOfTheWeek are records of the Derby Branch of the International Friendship League. Read more about their bid to "break down mythical barriers" one friendship at a time in our latest blog post: recordoffice.wordpress.com/2025/10/17/f...
From Allestree to Enugu with Amity
A great facet of #BlackHistoryMonth is its embrace of international and local themes. It helps us perceive those invisible dotted lines connecting people to places: places left behind, returned to,…
recordoffice.wordpress.com
October 21, 2025 at 12:40 PM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is this example of gorgeous calligraphy. Benjamin Wilson was only 15 when he made this in 1736 and was largely self-taught. He later moved to London and became a painter, theatre manager and scientist!

#calligraphy #18thCentury
A sheet of paper, beautifully caligraphed, stating 'The Art of Writing in all the hands with variety of ornament… Benjamin Wilson, Leeds July ye 8th day Anno Domini 1736'. Around the text are drawings of animals including a squirrel, monkey, dog, snail, butterfly, birds and a dragon.
October 14, 2025 at 9:40 AM
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Blacksmith Herbert Walter Turner, born 1856, was very active in his community in Brimington and Chesterfield until his death in 1919, as recorded in his detailed, thoughtful and quirky diaries. This gem of late Victorian #LocalHistory is our #ArchiveOfTheWeek.
Page from Herbert Turner's diary, headed "List of Tools etc." Extract from Herbert Turner's diary "Tuesday January 18th… Charley and Thomas began at quarter time. I went to a lottery, for Gold watch put up by George Bunting, it was held at the Crown Inn, Lordsmith St and won by a Mr Gillyalt at Brills' Ironmonger. Weather very mild the last two or three days, like spring."
October 7, 2025 at 10:11 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is a plan of an extension to Wirksworth Infant National School. Erected in 1851, fees were £4 pa for the upper room, £2 for the lower. Free places limited to 12, but trustees could admit more giving due regard to the character of the school.

#EYAEducation #LocalHistory
The plan shows two images. The top image shows the extension on the left hand side, measuring 17.6 by 16 yards. The extension and the desks on the right hand side, are coloured in yellow. The second image is a sketch of the front of the school. The roof and three windows are coloured blue.
September 30, 2025 at 10:10 AM
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The records of Netherthorpe School is our #ArchiveOfTheWeek. Founded in 1572 it's still in operation today. Its 350th anniversary in 1922 was a grand celebration with a fete, concert, Punch and Judy shows, fireworks and even an aerial display!

#EYAEducation
Faded green cover of a booklet for the 350th anniversary of Staveley Netherthorpe Grammar School. Underneath the school's name is the school badge, three shields in a slight U-shape with 1572 at the top and a ribbon underneath with the words Staveley Grammar School. The shields have images including 3 lions rampant. 'Exhibition, Bazaar, Fete' is written underneath the badge with the date 1572-1922.
September 24, 2025 at 12:03 PM
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A governess's life could end in poverty but not in the best households! Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is the 1847 will of the Harpur Crewe's governess, Amelia Wheldon. She retired to a comfortable 3 bed cottage on the estate and gave lots of bequests to her friends and relations.

#EYAEducation
A handwritten will and separate inventory. The front page of the inventory lists everything in the 'House Place' (kitchen/living room) and includes chimney ornaments, 5 chairs, 2 deal tables and 1 mahogany table, a tea urn, arm chair, 2 decanters, chine and a lot of jugs and glasses.
September 9, 2025 at 10:45 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is D614, an 1806 Parwich sale catalogue. Sale catalogues are full of treats for the historian, with plenty of social, economic and topographical titbits. This one includes a list of freeholders and leaseholders.

#history #19thCentury
Printed sale catalogue, headed: "Messuages and land at Parwich, to be sold by auction by Mr Harlow at the house of Francis Roe, the Wheat Sheaf at Parwich in the county of Derby on Monday the 16th day of June next at 3 O'clock in the Afternoon. Handwritten list of names headed "Sir Richard Levinge, Bart". On the right-hand page is a scribbled note from Th. & J. Goodwin of Ashbourne dated 31 May 1806, "Sir - Having the Estates described on first side to dispose of have sent you an advertisement. Please to communicate it to your Brother". Addressee not named.
September 2, 2025 at 10:20 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek are these 'Architects Christmas broadsheets', as produced by the staff of Derbyshire County Council's Architect's Department. They contain humorous articles, satire and cartoon illustrations, mainly about colleagues and their work environment.

#EYAHumour #history
A pile of several copies of the Architects Christmas broadsheet, dating from 1969 and the 1970s. A cartoon from one of the Architects Christmas broadsheets, entitled 'Low energy environment for low energy architects'. It shows a wind-, solar- and water-powered office, including 'rotting files methane for lighting' and a management meeting which sends hot air up to warm the architects' floor.
August 26, 2025 at 10:05 AM
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Buxton Museum & Art Gallery are temporarily storing some material with us, including our #ArchiveOfTheWeek, the archive of Sir William Boyd Dawkins (1837-1929), the archaeologist who excavated Creswell Crags and opened the new Buxton Museum in 1928: calmview.derbyshire....*
Black and white photograph of sitting portrait of a white man, approx. 60 years old, with short grey/white hair and dark grey moustache, wearing a white shirt, dark tie and jacket. Signed W. Boyd Dawkins 1899.
August 19, 2025 at 10:30 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is a photo of Anne Banton of Ticknall on her 100th birthday in Aug 1890. Having worked as a dairy maid at Calke Abbey, she celebrated with her family and the Harpur Crewes. She was paraded in a carriage and ate a hearty meal with her descendants.

#Victorian #history
Anne Banton sitting in a wood chair, wearing a black dress, shawl and bonnet, outside Calke Abbey. Her feet rest on a knitted cushion. There is a column of ivy behind her left shoulder. The cream surround to the photograph states that it was taken by J. W. Price of Derby.
August 12, 2025 at 10:25 AM
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We’re not sure if our #ArchiveOfTheWeek, this ‘Water Cure’ booklet, would tempt us to take the waters at Smedley’s Hydro. The tiny souvenir of comic images is part of a collection of ephemera for the hydro established in Matlock in 1853. Perhaps it helped to see the funny side?😬

#EYAHumour
Black and white line drawing of a man receiving a water treatment. He sits in a wooden box with only his head exposed and steam billowing behind. He wears a shocked expression. A man stands far behind him with a water hose feeding into the box. A caption reads "The Doctor says I shall enjoy the Steam Box Bath. Does it look like enjoyment!". Black and white line drawing of a man receiving a water treatment. He wears only a sheet wrapped around his waist. He wears a shocked expression and has his hands in the air. A man wearing an apron and hat stands behind spraying him with water. A caption reads "This is the way we are treated, as if we were garden shrubs". Booklet with embossed cover in a red/orange colour. The title 'The Water Cure' is in gold capital letters.
August 5, 2025 at 10:45 AM
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We only hold objects when they've come with a collection like our #ArchiveOfTheWeek: Belper Poor Law Union (ref D19). These poignant items belonged to pauper 'lunatics wandering at large' sent to the County Lunatic Asylum in the early 1900s.

#HealthHistory #20thCentury #History
Two pocket watches and five women's rings made of brass.
July 22, 2025 at 10:30 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is Isabel Jane Crewe's travel diary: a tour of Scotland preserved within the pages, plants of Scotland preserved between the pages. These were picked in Staffa and Iona in 1853. See our blog for more from the diary: recordoffice.wordpress.com/2025/07/03/t...

#EYANature
Travels and travails
This month’s Explore Your Archive theme is Nature. The search for #EYANature content led me to a travel diary kept by Isabel Jane Crewe (1830-1909). It has a tour of Scotland preserved within…
recordoffice.wordpress.com
July 15, 2025 at 10:18 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is a small sketchbook by John Glover (1767-1849), who became president of the Old Water Colour Society in 1807 before moving to Tasmania in 1831, where he became known as "the father of Australian landscape painting".

#EYANature #CowAppreciationDay #art
Watercolour sketch in various shades of grey of a large country house with surrounding landscape. A page full of pen and ink sketches of cows seen from different angles. Page with two small watercolour sketches in various shades of grey showing landscapes with a river, trees, bridges and cows. Pen and ink sketch of a small boat on a river with a man walking besdies it on the tow path.
July 8, 2025 at 10:50 AM
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The workers in our Derwent Valley Mills had their wages docked when they broke the rules. This 1807 forfeits book for the Strutt mills in Belper, our #ArchiveOfTheWeek, shows the sums docked for wages and why. See the full entry in our catalogue: calmview.derbyshire.gov.uk/calmview/ove...
June 24, 2025 at 10:13 AM
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As it's Explore Your Archive 'Travel' month our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is the records of Nellie Hodgkins, stewardess for the Cunard Shipping Line. The collection includes a fabulous photo album of her time on board various ships travelling the world. ‘Hodgy’ worked for the line for 38 years.
#EYATravel
Black and white photograph of a female stewardess standing alone on the deck of a ship. The photograph dates from the late 1920s. There is a metal staircase behind her. The woman wears a white uniform with apron and cap. She is smiling at the camera and has her right hand in her apron pocket. Black and white photograph from an album. It shows 3 women and 6 men standing in parkland. They stand one behind the other with their hands on the shoulders of the person in front. They are dressed in typical 1920s style clothes. Above the photograph is written ‘Elizabeth 1929 New York’. Underneath the photograph is written ‘The Aquitania Rebels’. The Aquitania was a ship in the Cunard Line.
June 18, 2025 at 10:09 AM
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A blast from the tech past... Here we have a 5 1⁄4 inch soft (actually!) floppy disk. It was created by Grindleford Primary children's contributions to the 1985 Domesday Project, a BBC project to mark 900 years since the Domesday Book. Now, how to access it? #archiveoftheweek
Colour photograph of a 5 1⁄4 inch soft floppy disk. On it it is written: Domeday Childrens contributions to the Domeday Project 1985. To be kept as a School Record. PC Parrot Corporation. Single sided, single density, soft sector, 48 T.P.I. unformatted.
June 12, 2025 at 3:03 PM
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As it's #WorldBicycleDay our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is Derby Amateur Bicycle Club (D3987). Formed 1878, its minute books say members wore chocolate brown uniforms whilst riding their penny-farthings. Some familiar local names are listed as members - do you recognise anyone?

#19thCentury #history
An open minute book showing minutes for 11 July 1878. Present were The Revd William Chandos-Pole (Vice President), Mr Charles Oliver (Captain), Mr John Whittaker (Sub Captain), Mr Gratton, Mr Daniel, Mr Shackleton, Mr Bemrose, Mr Giles, Mr George Oliver, Mr Flinn, Mr Higginbottom, Mr Frank Chell (Honorary Secretary).
June 3, 2025 at 10:34 AM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is D8466, records of the Clay Cross Hippodrome. This programme dates from Nov 1939. As wartime blackouts began, it promised to relieve "the monotony of almost continual darkness". However, the following year, the cinema itself was gone, gutted in a fire.

#history #cinema
Cinema programme for The Hippodrome, Clay Cross. Left side: Letter from Harry Middleton, Director, to "Dear Friends", summarising the November offering of films and thanking the audience for their attendance. Right side: List of films giving dates, times and cast members. Titles mentioned are: The Great Waltz, Madamoiselle [sic] Docteur, Sanders Of The River, Sweethearts, Persons In Hiding, Burn 'Em Up O'Connor.
May 27, 2025 at 1:16 PM
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We all know history is fun 😁 but if Georgian children were not convinced they could play this game from 1803. It features 158 spaces running clockwise representing events and characters from William the Conqueror to George III. It looks fun and it's beautiful too!

#EYAFunAndGames #ArchiveOfTheWeek
Colourful boardgame designed in a spiral. 6 rows spiral inwards to a drawing of King George III. All along the spiral are 158 little circles with images draw in them representing historical events and people, acting as board spaces. The first space represents the Battle of Hastings.
May 20, 2025 at 1:18 PM
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There's no apple pie without apples and no apples without planting apple trees! On #NationalApplePieDay our #ArchiveOfTheWeek is this list of the names of apple trees that were planted in the New Orchard at Osmaston Hall in 1730.

#history #18thCentury #botany
A hand written document that says: 'The names of the Apple Trees that are planted in the New Orchard in the year 1730'. It then lists various names of apple varieties, such as 'Golden Pippins' and 'Partridge Apples'.
May 13, 2025 at 12:54 PM
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Our #ArchiveOfTheWeek for the 80th anniversary of VE Day are photos of the Pleasley VE Day Fireshow 1995. They built a fire sculpture of a dove bearing an olive branch, produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of World War 2 in Europe.

#VE80 #VEDay #WWII #history
Typed paper with bold letters: Pleasley V.E. Day Fireshow 1995. Lying on top of the paper are three photographs which show volunteers working on a wire frame. Two photographs, one showing the now finished wire frame being lit with torches, the other showing the lit frame, revealing the image of a dove holding an olive branch in its beak. Two photographs, one showing a proud volunteer standing next to a recently built brick fire pit, the other one showing the fire pit now lit, with onlookers standing behind it.
May 6, 2025 at 1:34 PM