Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick

ARA Section for Archives & Museums Glossary of terminology commonly used in Archives/Museum sectors. — Archives & Records Association

The Section for Archives and Museums @araarchmus.bsky.social has produced a Glossary of terminology commonly used across the Archives and Museum sectors in the UK & Ireland.
Find out more and check out the glossary: www.archives.org.uk/sam-glossary

Cradley Heath around 1906. The photograph shows a row of mostly single storey workshops and houses with a rough, rubble strewn road in front. Several women, working as chainmakers, are looking out of the doors of the buildings.

No - and this is the sort of landscape that they would have been living in.

Leaflet produced by the Committee of African Organisations, London, in 1959. It advertises a mass demonstration from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square on 30 August 1959 in protest against proposed French nuclear tests in Algeria. The headline reads 'Africa says no to French tests', with an illustration of a mother and child near the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion. From the archives of the Trades Union Congress, document reference: MSS.292/882.71/2.

Leaflet produced by the Committee of African Organisations, London, in 1959. It advertises a mass demonstration from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square on 30 August 1959 in protest against proposed French nuclear tests in Algeria. The main text is shown in the shape of a mushroom cloud, and opposes exploitation through colonialism and horrors resulting from nuclear tests. From the archives of the Trades Union Congress, document reference: MSS.292/882.71/2.

'Africa says no'... 'Campaign against this nuclear madness'

In 1959 the anti-nuclear and anti-colonial movements combined in London to oppose French nuclear tests planned for the Algerian Sahara. The first tests took place in 1960 - during the Algerian war of independence against France.

This is a great photo!

Cradley Heath women did a range of heavy industrial work in the early 20th century. Digitised sources about the Cradley Heath chainmakers and their fight for better conditions is at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... ⛓️

2026 AUAC Conference: Who is Responsible for the Archives? Who is Responsible for the Archives? An Interdisciplinary Approach to Ethics in a Digital Age When: Friday 26 June 2026, 9:00–5:00 pm Where: Aston University campus in Birmingham, UK, and online (hybr...

Consider submitting a proposal for this upcoming hybrid conference on Archives and Ethics! Experts from all fields are welcome! padlet.com/dturner2_23/... @astonuniversity.bsky.social @astonpress.bsky.social

Three images: A poster with the caption 'Weimar Cinema: From 1919 to 1933'. A display case with three film programmes: 'Hai-Tang', 'Madchen in Uniform' and 'Vampyr'. A view of the exhibition space, including three of five display cases.

New exhibition at the MRC!

Weimar Cinema from 1919-1933, showcasing items from the Illustrierter Film-Kurier collection.

Illustrated programmes for early cinema classics, international hits and films which reflected social and political ideas of the Weimar era.

Photograph of documents relating to women's suffrage, the First World War, and the Second World War. They include a Women's Social and Political Union letter, a photograph of munitions workers, and pamphlets on 'The position of women after the war', 'Women's freedom' and equal political rights.

We've been enjoying looking at the range of archives being used by students for their research

Themed searches of our catalogue can be a quick shortcut to find sources on popular subjects - warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

⛏️ 42 years ago, just a few weeks before the miners’ strike began, photographer Bruce Rae visited Easington, asking what it meant for a place to be so closely tied to coal - capturing a portrait of a community on the edge of unprecedented upheaval.

🔗 See more: sidegallery.co.uk/collectio...

Additional striking outfits can be found by following this link

mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/NCA/...

Advertisement from 'The Lady Cyclist' March 1896. Features drawings of the 'Referee' all wool cycling costume and the 'Duchess' rational knickers and skirt combination.

Get ready for Spring with the 'Ladies' Rational Dress'. #HelloSpring #SpringVibes #SpringStyle

Any excuse for 'The Lady Cyclist' to buy a new outfit. This handy "Double Spring Fashion Issue" will see you through the season.

Carte de visite photograph from the early 20th century, taken by Ewing & Co., Dornoch. It shows a person standing next to their bike by the side of a road. They have a flat cap, moustache, tweed-style suit (including plus fours) and Argyle socks. Document reference: MSS.328/N7/7/10/41.

The back of a carte de visite photograph from the early 20th century, taken by Ewing & Co., Dornoch. It includes a faint pencilled caption which reads 'MISS ROSS DEC'D BORN 1[ ]5 THIS WITH HER PAPERS ETC'. Document reference: MSS.328/N7/7/10/41.

"Miss Ross... This with her papers etc."

Context is key with archives and, by itself, this image raises lots of questions with few certain answers.

Who was the dapper Miss Ross of Dornoch? Was this a cycling disguise to avoid undue attention, one-off fancy dress, or a deeper part of her identity?

Poster headed ‘Fighting fit in the factory’, advertising a booklet of the same name. The main image is of a young man looking sternly towards the viewer, one hand is holding a massive spanner, the other is rolling up one shirt sleeve.

Poster headed ‘Fighting fit in the factory’, advertising a booklet of the same name. The main image is of a young woman in a headscarf, pulling back the lever of a large machine with one hand.

Fighting Fit In The Factory

Home Front health at the forefront in these striking #WW2 posters, featuring engineering workers striking heroic poses #histmed

The wartime ephemera was preserved in the archives of the British Employers' Confederation (mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/BEC/...)

Struggles, Strikes, Solidarity Discover the challenges faced by women workers and the extraordinary efforts, often against the odds, to create an all-women trade union.

Struggles, Strikes, Solidarity 5 Mar: Join @cathyhunt.bsky.social for a fascinating talk that examines the challenges faced by women workers and the extraordinary efforts to organise them into an all-women trade union, led by the charismatic Mary Macarthur @womenshistnet.bsky.social

National Union of Mineworkers' poster: NATIONAL UNION OF MINEWORKERS THE COAL BOARDS SCHEME WOULD RESULT IN MORE BLOOD ON BRITAIN’S COAL IT WOULD MEAN MORE DEATHS MORE SERIOUS INJURIES MORE PNEUMOCONIOSIS SUPPORT YOUR UNION VOTE NO TO THE COAL BOARDS SCHEME

Leaflet for the Draeger Self-Rescue Apparatus, sold by Richard Jacobson, London. It includes an image of a man demonstrating the mine safety equipment.

Front cover of 1985 National Coal Board pamphlet 'Down a modern coal mine', including images of mining technology and miners.

Front cover of programme for National Colliery Music Festival, held on 1 May 1948. It includes an image of a statue of a miner, with a silhouette of colliery buildings in the background.

Industrial health and welfare

The first documents in our new digitised collection are online!

It includes sources from the National Union of Mineworkers' archive relating to workplace dangers and campaigns to improve safety & welfare at work. More to come...

wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

Labour History Review essay prize 2026 Entries are invited for the Labour History Review postgraduate essay prize for 2026. The deadline for entries is 30 June 2026, and details are set out below. Download the entry form (Word document)…

Entries are invited for the Labour History Review postgraduate essay prize. The deadline for entries is 30 June 2026
(Please share widely)
sslh.org.uk/2026/02/19/l...

Looking forward to welcoming the successful candidate!

Excellent opportunity to work with the Release archives at the MRC and look in detail at the history of drugs, counter-culture and campaign groups in the British system

Part of a page from the 15 September 1917 edition of The Postman's Gazette. The top of the page is headlined 'Missing' and includes three photographs of soldiers - Private F.G. Lawrence, Private T. Crawford and Sergeant H.J. Lee - reported missing in the third year of the First World War.

Fragments of First World War lives

Trade union journals often carried photos & reports of comrades in arms - the serving, the rewarded, the missing, wounded & dead

The hope for news shines through in the profiles of the missing

Browse the Postmen's Gazette & more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

🚨 New Bluesky account 🎉

Dr Dee, Shakespeare & the oldest public library in the UK - we've been enjoying reading @chethamslibrary.bsky.social's blogs on Dr Dee & Shakespeare & looking forward to exploring more from their collections!

Looking for more history/library content? Well worth a follow!

The strike at Bliss’s Tweed Mill. Miss Varley and the pickets frying pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. https://mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/WOU/2/1/9

Julia Varley, expert flipper of pancakes, was also a suffragette and trade unionist.

She was active in the National Federation of Women Workers and the Workers' Union, serving as chief women's officer of the TGWU from 1929 to 1936. #ShroveTuesday #PancakeDay

Match-box makers photographed working from home in c.1906. The photo shows a woman and girl assembling matchboxes with cut pieces of card and assembled boxes on a table in front of them. They are sitting in front of a fireplace and next to a bed which has piles of flatpack boxes, a basket and rugs on it. The bedroom includes patterned wallpaper, pictures on the wall and a large decoration in a glass dome on top of the mantlepiece.

Match-box makers, c.1906

In 1906 'sweated' (poorly paid) homeworkers were put on public display as part of a 6 week exhibition organised by the Daily News

The exhibition handbook included photos of workers (mostly women) in their usual domestic working conditions
warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

We'll be there!

Looking forward to sharing some of our work with the National Union of Mineworkers archives at #HAP26 and catching up with other projects which have communities at the core!

Urban Catastrophes with Dr Pierre Purseigle

I talked urban history, history of war, and critical disaster studies on the great Warwick History Hour podcast; another excellent project run by our fantastic students.
Give it a listen and subscribe! 🗃️
👇👇👇

open.spotify.com/episode/7kB8...

First page of summary or transcript of BBC radio news broadcast at 1pm on 4 May 1926. WIRELESS MESSAGE. Since the 1st Day Bulletin, a number of requests had been received both by telegraph and telephone to the effect that the bulletin should be more clearly delivered. The B.B.C. have every desire that the public should receive the news as clearly and distinctly as possible. Everything may be reproduced except that news issued copyright by the agencies. Summary of the Civil Commissioners all over the Country: Food supplies normal. Men are being recruited at all the principal centres. In some parts of the country mails were stranded when train services were stopped and were taken up and completed by road. Reuter Central News. The Trades Union Congress General Council were in session. The General Council assembles at Eccleston Square this morning. They were joined by the three Miners' officials, Mr. Richardson, Mr. A.J. Cook and Mr. Herbert Smith, and at 11 a.m. by Mr. Ramsay MacDonald and Mr. Arthur Henderson. Great privacy was observed about the proceedings of the Council, the outer door was closed and press men were not allowed inside. Messages from all parts of the country indicate that the stoppage is practically complete. People who possess no means of locomotion walk to work. London was absolutely congested with traffic this morning in spite of there being no trams or buses. Milk food control shows the following information: There is every reason to believe that it will be possible to maintain a satisfactory supply of milk to all hospitals, schools, restaurants, etc and private consumers. In view of the necessity of arranging transport by road the price of milk will be increased by 6d per gallon wholesale, and 2d per quart retail. The Metropolitan Railway announce that they have run an intermediate service on certain of their lines. ...

... during the General Strike, the Trades Union Congress monitored BBC news bulletins, producing typescript summaries.

You can explore the media landscape during the General Strike through the radio summaries, published bulletins & more at
cdm21047.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

#WorldRadioDay

Section from page 3 of Trades Union Congress newspaper 'The Daily Herald', published on 4 May 1926, the first day of the General Strike in Britain. It includes the headline 'Beware Of Wireless! The Government Controls It', with articles about the final negotiations between the trade unions and government, 'press hold-up' as the printers went on strike, examples of 'the Stuff That is Called News by Whitehall', and instructions on using oscillation to 'impair' the BBC radio signal.

'Beware of Wireless!'... 'Fear of Oscillation'...

The 1926 General Strike triggered debates over misinformation and media control. On the first day, TUC newspaper The Daily Herald warned against government control of media and suggested ways of interfering with the radio signal...

#WorldRadioDay

🚨 New Bluesky archive account 🚨

Welcome to Chicago's @digitalnewberry.bsky.social !

Some excellent online resources through their digital collections (particularly recommend the vintage postcard sender - combining cats, bicycles and women's rights!)

Discover everything that the common European data space for cultural heritage has to offer - from rich data to a thriving community and a wide range of tools, products and events.

Explore the data space: www.dataspace-culturalheritage.eu

Seems a fair response!

Death masks seem surprisingly common in archives, though currently a gap in our collections.

Colour print of a Japanese pen and ink drawing, showing a Japanese woman, entitled 'A Beauty Reading a Letter', by Kitagawa Utamaro. [c1792]

Colour print of a Japanese pen and ink drawing, showing two Japanese women and a boy in a garden. Undated.

Colour print of a Japanese pen and ink drawing, showing two Samurai[?] tending a bonsai tree. Undated.

What's the most random thing you've seen in an archive?

These images from the Shipping Federation can be found between other miscellaneous drawings and illustrations, including maps of the Thames and plans for offices.

Find out more through our catalogue at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/TSF/...

Cropped part of page from the 1896 book 'Sportfolio', featuring a photo of London-based ice skater E.M. Syers, adopting a sporting pose on fake ice in a photographer's studio. He is dressed entirely in dark clothing with the exception of a round fabric hat. His waxed moustache is set off nicely by the medals dangling from his shirt.

Edgar Syers, shown here with waxed 'tache, fancy hat and medals, was famous not only in his own right but as a coach and partner (in life & on ice) of Madge Cave, the outstanding female skater of her time in the early 20th century.

More on Madge and Edgar at www.olympics.com/en/news/look...