Celebrating our collections dating from 780AD to the present day
Today, we mark International Women’s Day by taking a look at one of the lesser-known but no less important political groups which advocated women’s suffrage during the early 20th century. The activities of the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS) and the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU) and their leaders – Millicent Fawcett…
Today Crawley is a thriving town of over 110,000 people and is the largest inland town in West Sussex. However, what is now a bustling metropolis started life as the quiet rural villages of Crawley, Ifield, and Three Bridges. Read on to find out how and why this changed. Crawley on Film Queen Elizabeth II…
Continue reading ➞ West Sussex Unwrapped II Month 1: Crawley New Town
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 Abigail Hartley, Searchroom Archivist PD 1159 - The Salvation Army Riots in Worthing No this isn’t a skeleton Halloween post! In fact, if anything, it is more suited to Dry January! For context, during our 2019 December Closed Fortnight, I gave myself the task of going through our Prints and Drawings Collections, cataloguing and…
By Katherine Slay, Archives Assistant In our latest blog post, Katherine Slay explains more about our on-going project to catalogue the tens of thousands of employee cards of the Southern England Railway company. These are gradually being made available whilst being indexed at the same time. Family historians will be able to find out more…
Continue reading ➞ The Railway Card Project: ‘B’ surname cards
Rationing began in the early stages of the Second World War, but it's impact was immediate and long lasting. What restrictions were there on meat, petrol, sugar, fabric, and - most important of all - tea? And how long did it last?
Something light and fluffy this time, a diary entry of sorts of trip north west to some colleagues, catching the last of the good weather and enjoying endless amounts of cake!
Many of our followers will recall the news last year of the 'Sussex Declaration', an early copy of the US Declaration of Independence, and the only other ceremonial copy of the Declaration known to exist besides the signed 1776 copy now displayed at the National Archives in Washington, D.C. Although the manuscript has been catalogued and stored here at West Sussex Record…
Continue reading ➞ The ‘Sussex Declaration’ of Independence held at West Sussex Record Office
West Sussex Record Office are developing an exciting new project to catalogue, digitise and provide access to the historic collections of The Royal Sussex Regiment dating back over 260 years. This will be a ground-breaking opportunity to use the combined collections to develop innovative ways for people of all ages across the UK and beyond…
Continue reading ➞ A Call to Arms! – The Royal Sussex Regiment Heritage Project
West Sussex Record Office 