Halloween in communities How Halloween is viewed varies from place to place and its traditions are just as diverse. A sense of how Halloween is treated in a given place can be glimpsed in its portrayal in cinema, music, and literature. Treat yourself to a poem written on the topic by John Mayn, printed in 1805 in The Scots Magazine. A notice in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News mentioned a Halloween tradition practised in ‘olden times’ in Scotland. Another Halloween tradition we …
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During the month of September, The British Newspaper Archive is delving into stories of local history. We have had the pleasure of a guest blog by local Exeter historian David Cronforth and another blog demonstrating how to use The Archive for local history, as well as a webinar about using newspapers for local history research. To continue our theme, we are looking at local English culinary treats including the Yorkshire pudding, Staffordshire oatcake, Cornish pasty, eel pies of London’s East End and …
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Discover more about specific occupations, industries and the history of working conditions and employment regulations in our historic newspapers. In towns and villages across Britain and Ireland people plied their trades, from carters and hawkers, to seamstresses and tailors. As the centuries passed agriculture gave way to industry and the ‘factory-worker’ was born. Read our blog to discover more about the history of work & occupations. Of Cordwainers, Chandlers & Night-Soil Men There are some historic occupations that are no …
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Old newspapers regularly featured passenger lists, news from abroad, foreign destination guides and other travel-related musings, making the British Newspaper Archive the perfect research companion for anyone interested in how people moved around the world in days gone by. Register Now and View 3 FREE Pages Whether you’re a genealogist having trouble pinpointing your family’s voyage to another country or a student doing a thesis on historical migration patterns, the Archive may hold a key piece of information for your research. We’ve …
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With summer well underway and a new month dawning, we take a look at the month of July with the help of The British Newspaper Archive. What events and holidays of significance took place in July? How have our newspapers covered such happenings? Join us as we explore the history and newspaper coverage of Canada Day, the Battle of the Somme, and Independence Day. Canada Day The national holiday celebrates the anniversary of the enactment of the Constitution Act, which …
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On this day, 30 June, in 1864, American President Abraham Lincoln signed the Yosemite Valley Grant Act. The Act gave the Yosemite Valley and Mariposa Big Tree Grove to the state of California, ‘upon the express conditions that the premises shall be held for public use, resort, and recreation’. Today, more than 4 million people visit the site every year, which has become both a national park and World Heritage Site. We have rambled through the pages of The British Newspaper …
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Whilst Mothering Sunday is now commonly combined and celebrated with the secular holiday of Mother’s Day in the United Kingdom and Ireland, its origin is religious in nature and separate from that of the American Mother’s Day. Starting in the 1700s, individuals would attend a special service on Laetare Sunday (the fourth Sunday of Lent) at their mother church (usually the church where an individual was baptised or their local parish church/closest cathedral). This activity was soon coined as going …
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This month we are introducing a new blog theme: Cookery Corner. Whether you want sweet or savoury; an easy 30-minute meal or an extravagant four-course dinner, the British Newspaper Archive holds all your culinary desires. Each month we will dip into through the thousands of recipes found in the British and Irish newspapers while focusing on a specific topic. Sweet Cakes We thought the best way to start, of course, is with cakes! This month, we discovered numerous recipes for …
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This week’s episode of Who Do You Think You Are? took us to India and Bangladesh with Sunetra Sarker. During the program, Sarker became familiar with her Indian ancestors and learned how the tragedies of war affected her family. With the use of newspapers, Sarker was able to place her ancestors into the context of public events and gain a deeper understanding of the lives they led. At the beginning of the episode, Sunetra conveys a feeling most of us …
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As we covered in our last blog post, the traditions and opinions surrounding the celebration of Valentine’s Day have evolved and changed over the years. But as we search through three hundred years of stories in The British Newspaper Archive, we see that the day has endured as one of celebration and, occasionally, scandal. In the newspapers, we can see a long tradition of celebrating this day, but we can also observe the emergence of a certain skepticism and cynicism …