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Performing Arts Newspapers

If you are interested in the history of theatre, music, dance, circuses, travelling troupes, opera or any of the performance arts then The British Newspaper Archive is an invaluable source.  Reports of recitals, reviews of plays, and critiques of musical performances can be found in all of our newspapers.  We also hold a selection of specialised titles related to the performing arts. Our newspapers date from the 1700s to the 2000s and within their pages you can trace the history

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A Life on the Stage: Discovering My Performing Ancestors at the British Newspaper Archive

We love hearing stories about what you’re up to in the Archive. Truly, we feel extremely privileged to hear your tales.  So when professional genealogist, Matt Ball, tweeted us about his research on his music hall ancestors we were keen to hear his story. Through his research in The Era and other papers in the Archive, Matt has discovered some terrific stories about his theatrical ancestors. Matt very kindly agreed to be a guest blogger for us, and we’ve published

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Celebrating the History of Black British Musicians – Five Black British Musicians and Their Legacies

October is Black History Month, and to celebrate, here at The Archive we are uncovering the amazing stories of Black British figures from history. In this first of a series of special blogs, we begin by celebrating the work of five Black British musicians, and highlighting their amazing legacies, using newspapers taken from The Archive. Register now and explore The Archive So read on to discover more about child prodigy George Bridgetower who took the courts of Europe by storm

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week on The Archive we have added 89,160 brand new pages, covering England, Wales, Ireland and India. We continue to augment our newspaper collection with five brand new titles joining us this week, which cover the north and the south of England (Northumberland and Somerset, as well as one new title for Staffordshire), Wales and India. Meanwhile, we are adding new pages to the seminal Madras Courier and the historic Westminster Gazette, as well as adding new pages to Tipperary’s Midland Counties Advertiser. Undergoing a few name changes over

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have added 166,508 new pages to The Archive. We have updated fifteen of our existing titles, with updates to four of our Irish titles, and titles covering the counties of Surrey, Cheshire, Devon, Dorset, Kent and Middlesex, as well as the cities of Newcastle and Liverpool. This week also sees updates to one of our performing arts publications, The Showman. The Showman was ‘an illustrated journal for showmen and all entertainers,’ and our updates include pages from 1901. The Showman gives a fascinating

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have added 55,918 new pages to The Archive. We have added seven new titles and updated seventeen of our existing titles. Updated titles this week cover Cumbria, Ireland, Oxfordshire and Liverpool, and also include some of our military titles, such as the War Office Times and Naval Review, the War Savings and the Silver Bullet. Our new titles this week cover a wide variety of subjects: from performing arts title The Showman to The New Crusader, which bills itself as

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week we have added 114,026 new pages to The Archive. We have updated three of our Irish titles, and there are also updates to titles covering the city of Liverpool and the county of Gloucestershire. There are additions to one of our Scottish titles, the Peeblesshire Advertiser. This week sees the addition of the year 1890 to our fascinating title the Music Hall and Theatre Review. Offering an intriguing glimpse into the world of Victorian entertainment, issues from 1890 contain delightful coloured

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Hot off the press – new titles added this week

This week we have added 69,017 new pages to The Archive. We have published five brand new titles and added pages to six existing titles. Our new titles this week cover the counties of Bedfordshire, Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire. The Archive now has eleven titles covering Gloucestershire, twelve covering Oxfordshire and eight for Bedfordshire. We have added pages to the fascinating Music Hall and Theatre Review. This newspaper offers an intriguing glimpse into the world of Victorian entertainment. Discover the Babylon

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Twenty Incredible Pictures of Women’s War Work From Our Newspapers

When war broke out in August 1914, and again in September 1939, women across the United Kingdom played a pivotal role in the war effort, taking on jobs that we previously seen as the preserve of men. By July 1916 it was estimated that 750,000 women across Britain had taken up ‘war work,’ working in heavy industries and in munitions factories, working as drivers, as well as nurses and as doctors. This represented a seismic shift in the way that women

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

Not even a month ago we celebrated reaching 55 million pages, and this week, we are celebrating adding another one million pages to The Archive, with over 56 million newspaper pages all now available to search. In what is a truly bumper week at The Archive, we have added ten brand new newspaper titles to our collection from England and Scotland, and even from across the pond. Meanwhile, we’ve updated 28 of our existing titles, from Aberdare to Wells, with significant updates to important regional publications. So read on to discover more about all

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