Churchill Archives Centre

On yesterday's The World Tonight, David Maxwell Fyfe's grandson, Tom Blackmore, spoke about reading the personal letters sent between David and his wife, Sylvia during the Nuremberg Trails which we look after here at the Archives Centre.

🎧 Listen from 34:34 www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

We also look after the papers of Hersch Lauterpacht, who drafted the opening and closing speeches for the Chief British Prosecutor, Sir Hartley Shawcross. Hersch also came up with the concept of crimes against humanity, as part of the charges to be laid against the defendants at Nuremberg.

A photograph taken inside the court room of the Nuremberg Trials and David Maxwell Fyfe's security passes for the Trials, KLMR Acc.1485 12/1 and KLMR Acc.1485 3/2

Today marks 80 years since the beginning of the Nuremberg Trials.

At the Archives Centre, we hold the papers of Lord Kilmuir, who as David Maxwell Fyfe, was the British Deputy Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials.

A student unlocking Winston Churchill's dispatch box.

2 students looking at a photograph album in the reading room.

James Greenhalgh talking about his academic research.

5 students in our sorting room.

We loved hosting our annual visit for students studying the Modern British History MPhil here in Cambridge.

In our 2 hour session, we worked with students to explore what it means to look after collections, from when they enter our sorting room to going out to researchers in our reading room!

Fountain pen and case engraved with "The Armistice was signed with this Pen in the Forest of Compiegne at 5am on the 11th November 1918".

To commemorate Armistice Day, we share this truly historic item: the pen that was used to sign the Armistice, at 5 a.m. on 11 November 1918. It was given to the Churchill family by the nephew of Admiral Wemyss, who as 1st Sea Lord signed the Armistice on behalf of the Government (BRDW V 5/1).

David, our Conservator, cleaning the surface of the floppy disk.

A floppy disk support frame printed using 3D printers at the Bill Brown Creative Workshops at Churchill College.

A representation of the data read from the floppy disk after cleaning.

🎉 Happy World Digital Preservation Day!

💾 From 3D printing to cleaning, collaborations between the Archives Centre and Churchill College have been vital to rescuing data from the floppy disks we look after in our collections.

🔗 Read more in our new blog: buff.ly/HQ3AOMF

#wdpd2025

Advert for our two day conference held on the 13th - 14th November at Churchill College which you can sign up for in via the link in the text. Photos show the lecture theatre with someone presenting and a second photo of the front page of the official 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement

Join us next week to explore the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement in a two day conference. Click here to get your tickets, view the detailed programme and information about all of our interesting speakers! buff.ly/jv7favU

A photograph of a member of the Archives Centre team sat behind a table with research guides, leaflets, and copies of items in our collections.

A photograph of facsimiles of relating to queer history.

Research guides, postcards, badges and leaflets on a table

🎉 And it’s History Day!

👋 Come and say hello and delve into our rummage box to see some of the items that our team have chosen for the queer history and heritage trail. 🌈

@senatehouselib.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social

#HistDay25

[Video description: A page from a scrapbook showing an orange, pumpkin shaped invitation to a Halloween party, addressed to George Bull.]

🎃 In 1930, the solicitor George Bull received a Halloween invitation from Isla and Edward Mitchell.

👻📜Guests were advised to wear old clothes as 'cats and ghosts get rough'...

George's father William, preserved this invite in a volume which forms a part of a new accession to the Bull papers.

Research Grants & By-Fellowships - Churchill Archives Centre Find out available research grants and Archives By-Fellowships, including eligibility and the application process.

🔵Applications close this Friday 31st October.

🔵Find out more and apply to the fund on our website: buff.ly/xNLUzOq

And please do share with anyone who you think might be interested in applying.

🔵If you don't know, the Jennie Churchill Fund supports archival, educational or research work undertaken on the papers of Winston Churchill & other related collections.

🔵It's available to undergraduates, postgraduates, academics & independent researchers within & beyond Cambridge.

🎉 We were delighted to hear from @robert-yee.bsky.social who has just published his first book 'The City’s Defense: The Bank of England and the Remaking of Economic Governance' supported by the Jennie Churchill Fund.

🥳 A huge congratulations Robert from the Archives Centre team!

WCHL 12/5-11

We're currently digitising the HMV gramophone records called ‘The Progress of the War’ 1940-43, which contain some of Churchill's most famous speeches.

Here you can see our college’s AV technician carefully placing a cleaned record onto the turntable, ready to capture its sound using a stylus.

[Video description: A short video sharing a series of photographs of scrapbooks and albums in the papers of Baroness Trumpington.]

📢 NEW exhibition: Snapshots & Scraps: The Evolution of 20th Century Photo & Scrap Albums

🚼 On this day 103 years ago, Jean Barker, Baroness Trumpington was born. Our new exhibition uses her collection to explore how photograph & scrap albums evolved.

buff.ly/JHHrzPO

It's really important to us here at the Archives Centre that our researchers find our reading room an inclusive, friendly space.

Join our Archive Assistants as they show you around...

Music by Bensound, AKU3OS8UCYHVBSU8.

Baroness Hilary Armstrong, Baroness Gillian Shephard, Deborah McGurran, Anne Campbell, Dame Athene Donald, Baroness Anne Jenkin, and Boni Sones OBE at Churchill College in 2024.

Deborah McGurran, Allen Packwood, Baroness Spelman and Boni Sones OBE at Churchill College, Cambridge.

In 2024, Boni Sones OBE along with Associates Jackie Ashley and Deborah McGurran, interviewed some of Parliament's leading women, including here at the Archives Centre. We now preserve the full set of interviews within our collections.

Find out more about the project here: buff.ly/HTY46rX

In this 2-hour Groundbreakers documentary film, some of the most influential women in British parliamentary history document their personal and political journeys. Women across parties tell their… Groundbreakers

📢 A valuable resource for historians, archivists, and students alike...

📹 Watch 'Groundbreakers' a new documentary where some of the most influential women in British parliamentary history reflect on their personal and political journeys.

De Gaulle and Churchill shaking hands during a state visit in 1960. They are surrounded by other people, including Clementine Churchill near the back of the image

Richard Vinen, Professor of History at King’s College London, will be giving a free lecture at Churchill College on 21st October, titled ‘De Gaulle is France. Not a bastard.’ Churchill in the shadow of de Gaulle. No need to register, the event is free and open to all buff.ly/2gTriyk

Photo of Nicholas Westcott

Photo of Paul Dimond

2 new #BDOHP interviews today: Nicholas Westcott, buff.ly/IntZo8s (worth the read just for the story of John Kerr hiding under the table during the Maastricht negotiations) and Japan expert Paul Dimond, buff.ly/7WOJlxQ

A digital dark age? The people rescuing forgotten knowledge trapped on old floppy disks From lectures by Stephen Hawking to the letters of British politician Neil Kinnock – it's a race against time to save the historical treasures locked away on old floppy disks.

www.bbc.co.uk/future/artic...

💾 Our Digital Archivist Chris Knowles is supporting the Future Nostalgia project, led by our friends at the @theul.bsky.social.

🕵️The project brings together old hardware to read rare and unusual floppy disks.

Discover how this work is helping prevent a digital dark age in this BBC feature. ⬇️

5 students looking at our reading room exhibition, including one student who points at an exhibit.

5 students looking at our reading room exhibition and consulting our research guides.

3 students looking at archive material.

Last week we had an exciting visit...

We introduced the Archives Centre to 10 undergraduates who are beginning their studies in History and HSPS (Human, Social, and Political Sciences) at Churchill College, Cambridge.

We hope you find archives useful in your academic journeys!

Collage of documents relating to the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement

Join us for 'The 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement in historical perspective' a two day conference to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of the signing of this momentous document.
🗓️ 13th-14th November
📍 Churchill College
🎫 buff.ly/s3lf071

Celebrating 100 Years of IVF Pioneer Sir Robert Edwards at Cambridge — Louise Brown: World's First IVF Baby Churchill College, Cambridge, recently hosted a moving celebration of Sir Robert Edwards’ 100th birthday. As the first IVF baby, I joined a panel reflecting on Bob’s legacy—from his groundbreaking…

📖 Louise Brown (the first IVF baby) has written about the Edwards Centenary Conference panel session which we hosted on the 26th September. Read it here: buff.ly/N1i5xAT

#ivf #ivfhistory @rogerhighfield.bsky.social

De Gaulle and Churchill shaking hands during a state visit in 1960. They are surrounded by other people, including Clementine Churchill near the back of the image

Richard Vinen, Professor of History at King’s College London, will be giving a free lecture at Churchill College on 21st October, titled ‘De Gaulle is France. Not a bastard.’ Churchill in the shadow of de Gaulle. No need to register, the event is free and open to all buff.ly/2gTriyk

An graphic advertising History Day, showing someone holding a facsimile of archive material featuring images of pots. The details of the event, along with the logos of the organisers are included at the top.

🎉 It's one month until we'll be hosting our stall at History Day!

📅 Tuesday 4th November
🕰️ Drop in between 11:00-16:00
📍 Senate House, London

🎟️ Book your free place here: buff.ly/fBb8TJR

@senatehouselib.bsky.social @ihr.bsky.social

#HistDay25

A selection of newspaper articles with headlines 'A resolute agenda for Black Sections', 'Coup for Black Sections' and 'Black Section stands firm', NEWB 2/1.

📰 As well as this publication, we also look after a collection of newspaper clippings documenting the activities of the Labour Party Black Sections, which includes articles from the Caribbean Times and photographs of members of the National Executive.

#blackhistorymonth #archives #history #Labour

The first page of 'The Black Agenda', NEWB 2/1.

The publication was dedicated to:

'the 500 Black pioneers who sailed to England aboard the Empire Windrush 40 years ago. They launched the final conquest of racism and colonialism in Britain. The Black Agenda belongs to them.'