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The Freezing of the River Thames – January 1814

waterman on thames

Historical newspaper reports describing the big freeze in London in the winter of 1814 With the predicted snow and ice all set to turn much of the UK into a ‘retreat from Moscow’ landscape, we thought we’d post some old newspaper stories about the freezing of the River Thames, back in January 1814. There are certainly some striking and surreal images described in these stories – not least of which is the poor pig, stuck on an ice floe and

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The BNA Passes the 6 Million Page Mark – and Page Number 6 Million Is Available for Free!

It was a long day and night watching the old odometer (drink in hand), but we’re thrilled to announce that the homepage counter on the website has just passed the 6 million page mark. And we’re thrilled to have reached another big milestone in the project. The 6th millionth page to arrive on the BNA website was page three of the ‘Manchester Evening News’. So to celebrate reaching this milestone, we’ve set this page as a FREE page to all

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The Jarrow March, 5 to 31 October 1936 – ‘No Unemployment Relief for Dependants’ and ‘Leicester Boot Repairers Give Free Overtime’

The ‘Jarrow Crusade’ began on 5 October 1936. The 207 marchers walked from Jarrow to Westminster, to protest about the poverty and unemployment in the North East of England during the Great Depression of the 1930s. We’ve been reading some fascinating stories about the ‘Jarrow March’ in the Archive, and thought we’d post these two stories that offer an excellent insight into this famous episode in the political, social and economic history of the UK during that ‘low, dishonest decade’ of

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Sneak Preview of the British Newspaper Archive at the Dundee Science Festival – Sunday 6 November

If you’re in the Dundee area on Sunday 6 November, then you might like to drop in on a family history event that’s taking place as part of the Dundee Science Festival. Genealogy experts from brightsolid online publishing will be attending this event, and will be able to offer advice, suggestions and tips to anyone who is looking to find out more about their family history. The British Newspaper Archive will also be represented, and will be offering demos of the

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week at The Archive we have added an amazing 322,444 brand new pages, with eight brand new titles joining us in all, from Scotland, England and the Caribbean. Meanwhile, we’ve made one million more newspapers free to view as part of our collection, which you can find out more about here. We’ve also made extensive updates to 23 our existing titles, so read on to find out more about all of our new and updated titles of the week, as well as to discover more about the

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Our Newspapers & Breaking The News at The British Library

From April this year our long-term partner the British Library has been home to a fantastic exhibition – Breaking the News – which investigates the ‘big questions about the news we consume.’ Exploring how the news shapes the world around us, the exhibition combines different news mediums from five centuries, from radio to television, from pamphlets to newspapers, as well as using objects and artefacts from the British Library’s extensive collection. Book your tickets for the Breaking the News exhibition here And

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We’ve Reached 50 Million Pages – Celebrating 50 Fantastic Things About The Archive

Today we have reached a landmark of 50 million pages all now available to search on the British Newspaper Archive. That’s 50 million pages of news stories that span four centuries, from 1699 to 2009, that come from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and beyond. And we’re not stopping here – we plan to add millions more pages over the coming weeks, months and years. When the British Newspaper Archive was launched in partnership with the British Library in November 2011 a goal of

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Una Marson – a pioneer and activist

We are taking a deep dive into the work of Una Marson.  Marson was one of Jamaica’s most influential poets, broadcasters, and activists.  She was a feminist pioneer and the first Black woman employed by the BBC.  She was also the first Black woman to have her play performed in the West End and the first Black woman to attend the League of Nations.  One blog post cannot do justice to her incredible career, but we hope to use The

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Unlocking Black British History – An Introduction to ‘The Keys’ Journal

Quarterly journal The Keys was first published in July 1933, with Jamaican-born Doctor Harold Moody as its editor. ‘The Official Organ of the League of Coloured Peoples,’ it aimed to address ‘the racial misunderstanding’ that was prevalent in society, both in Britain and beyond. Arriving onto the turbulent political scene of the 1930s, with issues of race coming more and more to the fore with the rise of Nazi Germany, The Keys set out to impart an understanding between races,

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Hot Off The Press – New Titles This Week

This week The Archive has added 179,184 pages, including 13 brand new titles and additions to 26 existing titles.  Amongst the additions are thousands of pages that are now available to read for free.  You will find newspapers focused on the mining industry, shipping, potteries and more. Continue reading to explore more of our latest released. Register now and explore the Archive Our first new title of the week is the world famous Liverpool Journal of Commerce. This daily newspaper, which was established in

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