Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
By Nichola Court, Archivist As a mother to three young children (6, 4 and 3 at the time of writing), coming to work is something of a break from the whirlwind of life at home; a chance to use my brain for something other than citing the members of the Justice League and Avengers teams…
By Martin Hayes, County Local Studies Librarian, with thanks to Christine Kilby for document transcriptions On this 75th anniversary of VE Day, not only do we wish to celebrate the day, as best we can during lockdown, but also let us remember and give thanks to all those who served, died and suffered, overseas and…
Continue reading ➞ VE Day in West Sussex – Part Two: Records
By Martin Hayes and Alan Readman As we approach the 75th anniversary of VE Day, not only do we wish to celebrate that day, as best we can during this challenging period, but also we remember and give thanks to all those who served, died and suffered, overseas and at home, in the Second World…
Continue reading ➞ VE Day in West Sussex 8th May 1945 – Part One: an Overview
By Nichola Court, Archivist Mr Richard Carver lighting the lamps in Lombard Street, Petworth, 1931 [Garland N4333] George Garland was one of the county’s best known photographers and his archive is one of West Sussex Record Office’s most popular collections. On what would have been his 120th birthday, Archivist Nichola Court looks back on his…
By Imogen Russell, Searchroom Assistant. Wednesday 1st April 2020. This is a bit like the assignment you’d get, as a child, when your teacher would ask you to write about What You Did On Your Holiday. Well, we’ve been asked by our Social Media officers - Abbie and Alice - to write about what we…
Continue reading ➞ A Day In the Life… of a Searchroom Assistant
By Nichola Court, Archivist West Sussex Record Office is fortunate to hold the collections of a number of professional photographers and studios, including those of George Garland, Walter Kevis and Chichester Photographic Studio. These collections provide an immediate visual representation of the past, albeit – usually – a carefully managed and planned representation, according to…
Continue reading ➞ ‘Snapping the centuries’: the photographs of John Smith
By Jenny Mason, Senior Archivist Last week we asked if you might consider keeping a diary of your experience of the Covid-19 pandemic and how it is affecting you – recording your experiences, thoughts and feelings. We thought this would be an appropriate time to share some of the hundreds of diaries we hold at…
Continue reading ➞ A Journey into the Past: Exploring Historic Diaries
By Tim Hudson (guest blogger) What types of historic documents do architectural historians use? Continuing with our guest written series, the once Editor of the Sussex Victoria County History and co author of the updated Pevsner guide to West Sussex, Tim Hudson, will be exploring the types of records used when researching built heritage. Each…
Continue reading ➞ Historic records and architectural histories: Petworth
This is such an extraordinary period in our recent history with events impacting on our lives in ways that we could not have imagined. West Sussex Record Office has had to close its doors for the first time in over 70 years but our work goes on. We are keener than ever to document the…
By Abigail Hartley, Searchroom Archivist Happy Pi Day! As always with these sorts of events, I was looking for something innocuous to post for this fun little hashtag holiday, and ended up tumbling down the rabbit hole of something only marginally related to what I set out to do. Instead of a photo or two…
Continue reading ➞ The Pie Powder Court of Chichester: Dusty feet and quick justice
West Sussex Record Office 