Heritage Focus Day

Working out what you want to do in your career can feel like an impossible challenge. When I was at school, I had no idea what a good choice might be or what I was particularly interested in doing. Everything seemed appealing but nothing was jumping out to me. I wasn’t alone in this. The only people I knew who were certain of what they wanted to do with their lives all wanted to go into medicine. But they were the minority, everyone else was also drawing a blank.

New faces at Gloucestershire Archives

In this blog post we want to welcome two new faces here at Gloucestershire Archives. We were recently joined by Archivist Briony and Apprentice Archives Assistant Ethan, they have both written a short piece to introduce themselves, read more below.

A Fonds Farewell

I’m retiring after a very fulfilling and happy 36 (gulp!) years working at Gloucestershire Archives and have been asked to a write a farewell blog. So, here it is. I have eschewed any attempt at a chronological narrative, and instead have decided to focus on three collections which have run like threads throughout my career. My acquaintance with all three began early, during my ‘Collections’ era, and I’ve been able to reconnect with them several times as my role has become more outward focussed.

#ArchivePeople: Heritage Careers Focus Day

Are you interested in a career in the heritage sector? On Saturday 3^rd June we are hosting our first ever Heritage Career Focus Day at Gloucestershire Heritage Hub! Find out more and book your place here: https://www.heritagehub.org.uk/events/heritage-focus-day/

This event is aimed at people wanting a career in Heritage and is an excellent opportunity to see what archivists, conservators, museum curators, librarians, archaeologists and other heritage based professionals do on a day to day basis.

I am an archivist here at Gloucestershire Archives and I always find it interesting to lean the different story on how people first got involved in archives or heritage. So I asked some of my fellow Archivists to share their story.

Pause for Reflection, by Claire Collins

In the autumn, colleagues from Gloucestershire Archives have been showcasing our digital preservation work at a couple of conferences. The first the Archives and Records Association conference was about ‘Facing Forward: Post-pandemic recordkeeping – change, challenge, choice’ and the second was the international conference on digital preservation (iPres) focusing on ‘Data for all, for good, for ever: Let Digits Flourish’

Things That Go Bump In The Night

Rachel Wales ACR gets into the Halloween spirit…

As we approach Hallowe’en, we see lots of decorations featuring massive hairy spiders.  As I fished yet another beefy specimen of Tegenaria domestica out of my bathtub the other morning, I wonder if this is because late summer and autumn are the times when we humans start spotting, and screaming at, house spiders as they roam about our kitchens, bathrooms and sitting rooms in search of mates.  Autumn and spiders go hand in hand. 

Ask An Archivist Day!

During the Covid-19 lockdowns we challenged our staff, volunteers and researchers to the 60 Seconds With… challenge! For #AskAnArchivistDay we are looking back on some of the answers from the Archivist here at Gloucestershire Archives.

Check out everyone’s full answers here: https://www.heritagehub.org.uk/60-seconds-with/60-seconds-withcontributions/

Gloucestershire Archives accessions, April-June 2022

It is time for our second quarterly blog looking at accessions we have recently received at Gloucestershire Archives. These can be from any place, person or organisation in Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire.

15 months at Gloucestershire Archives: Bridging the Digital Gap

My name is Natasha Young and I have recently completed the National Archives digital skills training program: Bridging the Digital Gap. This program was a 15 month hands-on placement at the Gloucestershire Archives, where I have had access to amazing people, and learned not only the skills of traditional archiving, but the challenges and needs of digital archiving.

The #ArchivePeople of Gloucestershire Heritage Hub

For day 26 of #Archive30 we are getting to know some of the amazing #ArchivePeople at Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. Learn more about some of our staff and volunteers below!