Innovation in Gloucester in the mid-20th century: cataloguing the records of the Corporation of Gloucester

Since April 2022 I have been working on a project to catalogue the 20^th century records of the Corporation of Gloucester, which cover a crucial period for the development of the city up to 1974. Along the way I’ve discovered all sorts of things about how new technologies such as the motor car and telephones affected the city from the 1920s onwards, how the Corporation promoted Gloucester as a suitable site for industry, and how an early aviation pioneer inspired the creation of what is now Gloucestershire Airport.

Memories of an evacuee’s time in Barnwood, Gloucester by David Jones

We love hearing about individual peoples experiences in history. So obviously we were very excited when Peter Jones sent us the story of his fathers experience of being an evacuee.

Photograph of David Jones and a local girl called Bobbie Peckham

My name is Peter Jones, I live in Gloucestershire. My dad David Jones was born on 12 March 1932 to parents William and Laura Jones (nee Hill) in Nechells, Birmingham. He was one of eight children and when war came in September 1939 they were evacuated to Barnwood in Gloucester. His two older siblings were of working age and stayed in Birmingham. Here follows his story (my comments in italics).

Uncovering Queer Stories at Gloucestershire Archives

Last year we hosted two workshops with artist Tom Marshman looking at uncovering queer stories within our collections. For LGBTQ+ history month I want to share two of these stories with you.

It can sometimes be difficult to uncover the stories of LGBTQ+ people throughout history, due to the stigma and laws prosecuting people who identified under the LGBTQ+ umbrella. We started our search by looking though Gloucestershire newspapers, and this is how we found both Chummy and Charley Wilson.

Moving to pastures…old, by Ally McConnell

I started organising the blog rota back in April this year, keen to re-introduce some form of consistency for the blogs that would re-invigorate the blog site and also encourage as many staff as possible to contribute to what is a key way of letting people know the sorts of things we get up to as the Gloucestershire Heritage Hub. As part of this, whenever someone left I asked them to do a “round-up” blog detailing the sort of work they’d been doing. We heard from Sally Middleton on her retirement, and we heard more recently from Laura Cassidy, our graduate trainee, as she went off to do her postgraduate course to be an archivist. I knew Sally was retiring when I set up the blog, so got her in quickly for a round-up. I knew when Laura was leaving her fixed term contract, so I pencilled her in for when she left in August. Little did I know that I’d be writing my own for November! Still, this is what has happened, so here goes – what have I done since September 2017?

Is your family collection a monster? Are you scared of meeting your forebears face to face? By Ann Attwood, Collections Care Development Officer

‘Forebears’ it seems to me is the perfect word!! I have experienced first-hand the terror they can strike into your heart! I’ve helped look after archive collections for over 30 years now, but when it came to my own family collection, it was a whole new ball game  A daunting prospect!

The responsibility for preserving the evidence of past generations of my family for the benefit of current and future generations weighed on my shoulders more heavily than all of Gloucestershire’s Archives ever had! Suddenly it was personal!!

Goodbye from a trainee

After nearly two years as a graduate trainee archivist, I’m flying the nest to complete my Master’s degree and be a fully-fledged archivist instead. I wanted share some thoughts about my preconceived notions about what exactly an archive is and what it does, and how I think now after working at Gloucestershire Archives.

Tools of the trade: Archival tape, scissors, pencil, labels, folder

The British Way of Spice

Kate O’Keefe, Community Heritage Officer at Gloucestershire Archives, explores the UK’s changing eating habits and growth of new cuisines.

I can still remember my mum’s first attempt at a chilli con carne – I must have been about 11 or 12 years old, so this would be in the early 1970s. Chilli powder was definitely new in our household and mum measured it in tablespoons instead of teaspoons – so we couldn’t actually eat the results. It put us all off for years.

Women’s History Month – Naomi Patterson

For our last post during women’s history month we’ve taken our information from the Barton and Tredworth community heritage site. This was set up during one of our community partnership projects, looking at the lives of local people. Read below for an insight into Naomi’s life and follow this link to listen to audio clips of her describing her experiences: https://www.bartonandtredworth.org.uk/content/living-barton-tredworth/blackhistorymonth/naomi-patterson

Women’s history month – Quarter sessions

The Quarter Sessions is a collection of accounts regarding mostly petty everyday crime. Last year we went through and picked out various cases that mentioned women, which you can read here: https://gloucestershirearchives.wordpress.com/2021/06/15/maligned-marginalised-and-misunderstood-blog-3/

Women’s history month – Fielding and Platt workers

In the second week celebrating women’s history month, we’d like to highlight some local women in the workforce.

One of our partner projects was all about Fielding & Platt, an engineering firm from Gloucestershire started in 1866. You can see all about the company and the lives of the people that worked there here: https://www.fieldingandplatthistory.org.uk/

Black and white photograph of the women working at Fielding & Platt, Second World War