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ARCHIVAL HERITAGE GIVEN A BOOST

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Jan 7, 2011

Tagged in: £22 , worldwide , Wiltshire and Swindon Archives , value , unique , UK , U.S. President , treasure trove , Thomas Cromwell , the Wolfson Foundation , the Pilgrim Trust , the Monument Trust , the Mercers Company Charitable Foundation , the Goldsmiths Company , the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation , the Foyle Foundation , retirement , researching , Queen Elizabeth I , public , Principal Archivist , Prince Edward , panel , on-line , National Cataloguing Grants programme , National Archives , local history , letters , Kew , Kent , Jane Seymour , J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust , Horatio Nelson , Heritage , Heritage , Henry VIII , grant , George Washington , family history , expert , Edward VI , Earls of Radnor , dissolution of the monasteries , collections , claire.skinner@wiltshire.gov.uk , Claire Skinner , catalogue , Berkshire , ARCHIVAL , April 2011-March 2012 , 16th century

Wiltshire and Swindon Archives has been successful in securing a grant of £22,700 to help open up the historic archives of the Earls of Radnor, including unique letters by George Washington, Horatio Nelson and Queen Elizabeth I.

Writing to Lord Radnor in 1797, former U.S. President Washington was looking forward to retirement: “I am now placed in the shade of my vine and fig tree; and at the age of sixty five, am recommencing my agricultural & rural pursuits; which were always more congenial to my temper and disposition than the noise & bustle of public employment; notwithstanding so small a portion of my life has been engaged in the former.”


 Letter from George Washington, 1797



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Archives of Wiltshire societies and organisations

Posted by: Blog Administrator on Nov 19, 2010

Tagged in: www.ugle.org.uk , Women’s Institute , Wiltshire Masters’ Lodge , Wiltshire , Unlawful Societies Act , title deeds , Swindon , Susan Snell , strong rooms , stored , solicitors , societies , securely , Second World War , scrapbooks , Salisbury , Redlynch , Quarter Sessions , Provincial Grand Master , programmes , Principal Archivist , preserve , policies , photographs , parish records , parchment , organisations , occupations , newspaper , newsletters , marriages , Marlborough , manorial records , London , Lodges , Library and Museum , jam-making , History Centre , handwriting , Freemason’s Hall , Freemasons , Francis Wakem , firms , final accounts , family tree , family history , environmentally-controlled , Downton , documents , County Record Office , constitution , communities , clerk of the peace , Claire Skinner , certificates , c.79 , burials , Bradford on Avon , baptisms , Archivist and Records Manager , archives@wiltshire.gov.uk. , Archives , ancestors , A1/405 , 30 Geo. III

When you think of a county record office or archive service, the chances are you think of family history, and sources such as parish records, in particular baptisms, marriages and burials. Alternatively, you may think in terms of bundles of parchment documents covered in spidery handwriting (but no dust, I hope!) I have to admit we do hold large quantities of these sorts of archives, normally bundles of title deeds or manorial records, which often come in either from families or solicitors’ firms. It is less common for people to associate the county archives with the records of individual societies and organisations, and yet these are also important for the history of the county and make up a sizeable, and significant, part of our holdings. Societies and organisations represent communities which are often linked by common interests as well as location.  It is important to preserve records of those links for future generations to understand what mattered to their ancestors, and to appreciate them as three-dimensional people, not just a set of names in a family tree.

 

One of the organisations which regularly pass on their archives is the Women’s Institute, and in October we were delighted to receive records from the earliest Women’s Institute in the county, namely Downton and Redlynch. These include a complete set of minutes back to 1916, several scrapbooks with photographs and newspaper cuttings concerning local events, and an unusual record of jam-making during the Second World War. The records are in the process of being catalogued and will then be available for research. The W.I. is clearly far more than ‘jam and Jerusalem’ and the records of individual institutes reveal its evolution into the varied and wide-ranging organisation it is today. Please 'read more' to find out about another organisation that has renewed its commitment to preserving its records at the History centre...

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