Profile avatar
bucksarchives.bsky.social
The archives and local studies library for the historic county of Buckinghamshire, and the home of Buckinghamshire History Festival. Website: buckinghamshire.gov.uk/culture-and-tourism/archives/
329 posts 4,558 followers 831 following
Regular Contributor
Active Commenter

All aboard! This is (we think) a train drawn by Charles Meade in 1884, who was then 3 years and 8 months old. If you've got a better interpretation for what this is, please let us know.

We're running another archive drop-in session as part of Art Unites: Our Stories! - Bourne End Library - 24th May - 10am to 12pm Find out more at buckinghamshire.gov.uk/blogs/librar... #ArtUnitesOurStories #ACESupported #NationalLottery #LetsCreate

We've shared Florence Fremantle's fantastic art before, but here's something a little unusual for her: paintings on canvas, rather than watercolour sketches. These were painted in 1963 when she was in her mid-sixties. We sadly don't know who the subjects are!

Next week we'll be at three different libraries in Milton Keynes for our Archive Drop-Ins! These are a great chance to chat to our team and have some of your heritage questions answered. There's no need to book - just come along and visit!

For #MKMonday, here's a photo we've found of the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher visiting the city in 1979! During the visit she opened the Central MK shopping centre.

Stalking stalking stalking, Tho' he never stalked before. Starting starting starting, "Did he never start before?"

We've got a new talk exploring a 19th century love story, covering hundreds of miles and decades of time. Come along to the Buckinghamshire Archives at 10:30am, Saturday the 7th of June, and learn their story for yourself. Email [email protected] to book your free space!

Kind of disappointing they've called it 'Doom: The Dark Ages' instead of 'Doom: The Early Medieval Period Which Was Not a Period of Intellectual Decline', but you can't have everything.

Fancy a palaeography challenge? This scrap of paper is in Samuel Horton's commonplace book from about 1880. Any idea what it says?

Stuck on your research? Need some help with where to go next? We've got slots available for Ask an Archivist! This is a great chance to have an online chat with a member of our team to find out how we can help. Interested? Get in touch at [email protected]

We've found this lovely annual report from the Bakehouse in Wolverton, shared for #MKMonday. It's from 1987 and is full of these charming cartoons on almost every page. Looking at the credits, we think these were drawn by someone called Jamie Watson.

At the end of the month we'll be visiting our friends over at Milton Keynes Museum for an archive drop-in. This is the perfect chance to chat to our team, learn a little bit about what we do, and get some of your heritage questions answered! We'll be there on the 31st of May, 11am to 2pm.

Here's a cartoon we think from the London Illustrated Times showing railway construction in Clerkenwell! It's probably from the 1870s. The station never ended up being built.

Huge thanks to @bucksarchives.bsky.social for lending us these insightful pull-up banners for #VEDay80 🇬🇧 We're learning so much about how Bucks celebrated 80 years ago, like the fact that even on #VEDay, street lights weren't fully on due to fuel and labour shortages #BucksHistory #BletchleyPark

Today is VE Day! While this was a day of celebration, it's become a day of reflection. Today we're sharing these letters from James Meadowcroft of the Oxford and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry. Captured in 1940, he spent the rest of the war as a POW in the Stalag 20b camp.

We've got an upcoming archive drop-in session as part of Art Unites: Our Stories! - Amersham Library - 10th May - 10am to 12pm Find out more at www.buckinghamshire.gov.uk/blogs/librar... #ArtUnitesOurStories #ACESupported #NationalLottery #LetsCreate

The Channel Tunnel opened #OTD back in 1994, but we've uncovered this lovely cartoon from the 1870s that presents an alternative to the undersea tunnel. We're sure this was a completely serious suggestion that absolutely wasn't done as a joke.

It may be a bank holiday, but #MKMonday continues no matter what. This is the staff lounge and bar of Telephone Rentals Limited in Bletchley, 1977.

What a great bunch of boxes, right? Wouldn't it be great to have a look inside them? Wouldn't it be even greater to have a look inside them outside of regular office hours? Dream no longer! We're open tomorrow, 9am to 4pm as it's the first Saturday of the month.

On this day in 1851, the Great Exhibition began in the Crystal Palace, London. Here's a sketch drawn from the exhibition showing Queen Victoria and Albert at the opening!

While searching for another photo, we came upon this amazing photograph of Robert Hinton of Quarrendon who was born around 1774. This was taken in 1856 and we think it might be one of the earliest photos of someone from Buckinghamshire.

Recently digitised, here's a photo of a magician from the Golden Link Club in Wolverton, 1975, shared for #MKMonday. While we don't have any follow up photos, we assume the lady in the box is fine.

We've found this great photo of Blaze, the mascot for the 1996 Paralympic Games! Blaze is a Phoenix, a symbol of renewal and rebirth, but also of the host city Atlanta.