24 August 2021:
I knew from the outset that the task was impossible. Keeping up with all the treasures which continue to pour from that modernist pile standing beside a pond in Kew was never going to be feasible. But given that buried within it lies virtually everything there is to be told about our history – innumerable sagas from centuries past – having an ear to the ground was at least bound to be enriching.
The ‘task’ was to act as information coordinator for the Friends, collecting data on developments brought to our attention or otherwise highlighted by TNA staff, as well as providing updates on projects supported by volunteers or funded by the Friends. Having spent some months at it, I intend to make a regular blog, of which this will be the first. Some of these gleanings will be familiar to those who follow the weekly newsletter provided by Kew, but there are always new gems to be found at our greatest national treasure and I trust these tips may be of use.
As many will know, the Friends recently made a significant financial commitment to the cataloguing and preservation of the Great Cowcher – or the ‘Domesday Book’ of the Duchy of Lancaster’s medieval estates. This unique historical record reveals how the duchy’s nobility amassed their rights and privileges, along with the identities of common folk and communities who dwelt there, including minorities and immigrants, and details of daily lives. Bringing the Great Cowcher to a wider audience will take years but may be counted a landmark in the study of social history.
National Volunteers Week in June provided Roger Kershaw of TNA with an opportunity to pay tribute to the invaluable work done at Kew by the unpaid. As head of strategic operations, Roger described how although some volunteer projects had been paused during the pandemic, three have flourished through work being done remotely, notably the one covering First World War Navy Lives at Sea. What he has to say was particularly relevant, given the dedication to volunteering demonstrated by Friends.
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-1691@149781@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
Early in the pandemic, someone at Kew came up with an inspiring idea. Here, at a time when families and lovers were being separated, was a moment to show the experiences through history of others on being parted. On the Record: With Love, a podcast series, was based on documents at the archive, ranging from a love letter written by the dying Earl of Leicester to Queen Elizabeth I and found beside her bed on her death 15 years later, to the protest of a pauper in the 1830s declaring that rather than being separated from his wife of 49 years under the Poor Law, ‘we will perish from want.’ This led to a summer exhibition, With Love. It is accessible online and tells stories of heartbreak, passion, and courage over 500 years.
https://nationalarchives.gov.uk/with-love/exhibition
Arising from this project, an invitation was issued for members of the public to submit their own stories in Letters from Lockdown – in effect to provide a social record of the pandemic, drawing on thoughts of Separation, Kindness and Strength. These too can be seen online at
http://nationalarchives.gov.uk/with-love/letters-of-lockdown/
Amid the rising focus on internet communication, TNA has been using YouTube as a platform to spread the word from Kew. Initially most of the links offered guidance on tips for researching family history and using the Discovery catalogue, but there is now a broad field of talks and posts available under categories ranging from military history to crime records. The word is getting around, as TNA now has 7.1K subscribers on the channel, and the number is growing.
https://www.youtube.com/c/TheNationalArchivesUK/playlists?view_as=subscriber
One of these YouTube links brings up a new TNA series entitled Literary Lives, and a recent episode devoted to J.B. Priestley. Like many others, perhaps, I was familiar with his name, probably by association with his best-known work, the play An Inspector Calls. What I had no knowledge of was his service in the First World War, in which he suffered wounds and shellshock, and how it influenced his social beliefs. As ever, one is reminded by the power of the material at Kew for sheer storytelling.
This year marks the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the Central Office for Information, the Government’s official communication agency. Among the COI’s roles was the making of short public information films, covering matters from potential nuclear attacks to health warnings. A number of these, ranging in tone from earnest to hilarious, can also be seen online. One in particular – Handkerchief Drill – casts a darkly amusing perspective on the pandemic.
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-1765@155490@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
Another podcast series casts a timely perspective on the evolution of our judicial process. First up in the History of Trials comes a chilling reminder of group hysteria in the form of seventeenth century witch trials, and one in particular in the district of Pendle in Lancashire. Accusations made by a ten-year-old boy against local men and women led to a mass trial at which nineteen women and a number of men were sentenced to death. Anyone who has seen Arthur Miller’s play, The Crucible, will find it absorbing – sensational stuff, with confessions by one woman of her possession by demons. Yet on examination, the boy, one Edmund Robinson, admitted he’d made it all up after hearing yarns about a previous mass trial of witches in the district.
https://clicks.econnectmail.com/email/S-1475@131847@oIItx4sERB-A4k9Z0N-dcZGxvpB8xUFleblQoU6vDUU.@
March seems a long time ago now, but as Women’s History Month it saw a tribute by TNA to the timeless figure of Emmeline Pankhurst. Relevant documents held at Kew include a drawing of the prison cell in which she was held in 1912, and a speech she delivered at Hampstead Town Hall the following year. I had not realised that the term ‘suffragette’ was initially a term of abuse coined by The Daily Mail.
https://blog.nationalarchives.gov.uk/emmeline-pankhurst-day-exploring-womens-suffrage-records/
There are always more riches to be found, tips to be offered, from that endless trove. I will continue to keep eyes and ears open for other tales from the past.