The blog for the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.
Written by Gary Brannan (Access Archivist and formerly Archives Trainee 2004-5) I was just 21 (horrifically young, with a taste in fleeces and baggy cargo trousers – it was the early 2000’s, we did things differently there) when I arrived at the Borthwick Institute for Historical Research at the start of a warm September in … Continue reading The Borthwick Move 10 years on – Gazing back at St Anthony’s Hall
Written by Alexandra Medcalf The York Lunatic Asylum opened in 1777, at a time when little was understood about mental illness. Without organised institutional care available, families were left to deal with the mentally ill at home as well as they could. It was usual to chain lunatics to the walls and to leave them naked (it … Continue reading The York Lunatic Asylum Scandal
Written by Kerstin Doble, Project Curator: Who Were the Aero Girls? Nearly a year after the search for the real life Rowntree Aero Girls began, I am delighted to announce the launch of a website dedicated to the remarkable stories of the women and men behind this collection of postwar paintings. As many as 40 … Continue reading New website reveals the story of the lost Aero Girls (and boys)
Written by Ruth Mather, Volunteer on the Atkinson Brierley Conservation Project Archivists might baulk at the old stereotype of the ‘dusty archive’, but it is an image that rings true for some of the items in the Atkinson Brierley collection. When the collection was assessed in 2011/2012 of the 6414 architectural plans there were only … Continue reading Dishing the Dirt on the Atkinson Brierley Conservation Project
Written by Alexandra Medcalf Like most archives, although most of our holdings are manuscripts on parchment or paper, bound into volumes and loose leaf, we do have other objects in our strong-rooms. This painting shows people in the grounds of the Retreat, York, in the late nineteenth century. The Retreat was, and is, a psychiatric … Continue reading George Isaac Sidebottom: Spot the Cat
Written by Catherine Firth, Conservator. The Conservation Department has recently been involved in the installation of two new exhibitions: ‘The Architecture of War Memorials’, which can be found on the third floor of the Raymond Burton Library, and ‘The Pity of War’, which is on display along the ground floor main corridor in the Harry … Continue reading Conservation and the Science of Light
Written by Dr Amanda Jones In your day-to-day life you’ve probably walked past one of George Pace’s buildings before and not realised it. Pace (1915-1975) was a York-based architect who is famous for his contributions to modernist ecclesiastical architecture. Perhaps his strict religious upbringing was the reason behind his career. Upon the death of his … Continue reading Keeping Pace: Dr Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Archive
Written by Sarah Griffin, Rare Books Librarian at the University of York Nowadays many books are produced with a ‘perfect’ binding where the pages are stuck to the spine and invariably split open as soon as any pressure is applied. They are still the common book shape we are all familiar with but they are … Continue reading Judging a Book By Its Cover
Written by Alexandra Medcalf. 1848 did not provide a good or happy Christmas for the Crosby family. On December 21st, the overseers of the poor for the parish of St Mary Castlegate in York applied to the Justices of the Peace for the city of York for the right to remove them. George Crosby was … Continue reading Poor Law Stories: George Crosby’s family and a Christmas Removal
Written by Dr Katherine Webb. In May 2013 we put up a small ‘taster’ exhibition, marking the 60th anniversary of the Borthwick. Now we have just opened a larger exhibition which reflects on the story of the founding of the Borthwick, explores its early days, and looks at aspects of our development, past and present. … Continue reading The Borthwick at 60! Our anniversary exhibition