The blog for the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York.
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
Written by Dr Paul Dryburgh. If, like me, you’ve been enjoying BBC4’s Medieval Lives, you will have been fascinated by the recent episode on Marriage. The idea that a marriage in the Middle Ages could be contracted and considered valid on the strength of a few words of consent, often spoken in private and/or under … Continue reading Present and Future Consent: proving marriage in fourteenth-century Yorkshire
Written by Alexandra Medcalf. Before finding these documents, I had never considered the difficulties of rationing for vegetarians. Of course, we are all familiar with the fact of rationing in this country during the Second World War, but careful management of the country’s food supply was also necessary during World War One. After the country … Continue reading Vegetarianism in World War One
Written by Kerstin Doble, National Archives Trainee. Earlier this year I introduced you to Rowntree’s Aero Girls paintings, which were commissioned for use in Aero chocolate advertising in print and television from 1951 to 1957. Since then we’ve managed to track down the only living painter who worked on the 1950s campaign, Frederick Deane RP, … Continue reading Who’s that Girl? Who were the Aero Girls?
Written by Maddy Pelling, Ayckbourn Intern. In a preface to his ‘Norman Conquests’ Alan Ayckbourn writes that, “Few women care to be laughed at and men not at all, except for large sums of money”. This seems somewhat appropriate from one of the most successful and prolific playwrights ever to emerge from these shores. Ayckbourn’s … Continue reading Answering Critics with Laughter, Shakespeare and Toilet Paper: The Comedy of Alan Ayckbourn