Coventry Archives

The regulars who use the records at the Herbert will already know this but prices to use a camera have been increased. A camera pass at our last visit was £5 for unlimited use, yesterday £5 was the cost for up to 5 images whilst unlimited images cost £10. I don't know how long this incease has been in place. Documents now have to be requested by 3.30pm the previous day.

Hi & thank you for that Heritage Funding cuts are biting hard. Reduced public opening times too with more revisions on the way.

I don't understand this I'm afraid! Could you explain what you mean, please?

Hello Anne, When carrying out research at record offices/archives there are various ways of doing it. Some simply study the documents and make notes or copy them out longhand. Many take a laptop and transcribe the documents out whilst at the record office. My wife and myself photograph the documents, assuming the staff have no objections, and then either study them at home or as my wife does, transcribe them at leisure. This is especialy useful for items such as minute/log books and obviously maps and photographs. My wife has a long term project in comparing Bedworth schools with schools from other areas, Coventry and beyond, so photographing the books makes the task a lot easier. Just for interest between 1875 and 1920 (approx) the Bedworth schools which were supported by the Nicholas Chamberlaine Trust stand comparison with many schools in the area. Photographs have to be taken without flash so not always easy. With few exceptions record offices are not set up for photography although Warwick has one small light/copy stand available. A good record office for photography is the Surrey office at Woking. Hope that makes it clearer for you.

heritage, I think Anne is referring to the camera charge, I don't understand that bit myself, do you mean they charge you for using your camera?

There has been a charge for using a camera in record offices for quite a while. The cost has gradually increased but £10 is rather over the top. Warwick Record Office also has a charge for plugging your laptop into the mains supply. This has the effect of bad tempered clashes between the receptionist and the casual visitor, happens a lot. It doesn't help that each record office has its own rules/charges, even down to the age of documents that the researcher can see. This is particularly applicable to school log books.

Thankyou Norm and Heritage I understand now! Yes, rather a lot, especially as the research can only benefit society as a whole.

Dear Forum members, Hello from all of us at Coventry Archives. We have recently registered with the forum, and thought it an ideal time to clarify our opening hours. Coventry Archives - incorporating the reading room for local studies material, and the research room for viewing archive material - are generally open Wednesday – Friday 10.30am – 3.30pm. We are located within the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum in Coventry on the ground floor, opposite the History gallery. For how to get to us, please look at the website for more details. We also open alternate Saturdays (Reading room only) 10.30am – 3.30pm. Dates for the remainder of 2018 are as follows: 14 April, 28 April, 12 May, 26 May, 9 June, 23 June, 7 July, 21 July, 4 August, 18 August, 1 September, 15 September, 29 September, 13 October, 27 October, 10 November, 24 November and 8 December. Please note that we will be closed over the Easter weekend period from Friday March 30 and will re-open on Wednesday 4 April 2018. Our online catalogue is available through Coventry Collections. We have only a handful of archive images on there at the moment, but we shall be uploading Pictures of Coventry images in due course. That's all for now, but we shall be endeavouring to add new information to existing forum topics in the future. With many thanks, Victoria Northridge, Archivist and Research Centre Manager.

That deserves a woohoo! I wonder if there's any plan to scan some of the new images that have come in since the originals were done?

Searching the "Coventry Collections" website I see that there is a lot in the collection now referring to air raid damage. I am not sure if these are newly referenced documents. There appear to be some schedules of damaged property as I came across a couple for Coundon number 9 area which included Poole Road where I lived. This is only an index, sadly the documents are not available online but I thought it might be of interest to anyone able to visit the Herbert. Edited by member, 29th Mar 2018 10:15 pm

The History Centre was digging through uncatalogued stuff when I was there last. They'd unearthed a pile of great photos of Lady Herbert's Garden and Cook Street. There was a tram image collection too.

Dear Helen, Many thanks for this and your previous post. I can confirm that we are currently discussing with Coventry City Council and Historic England to have a number of the Archaeology and Conservation department photographs, that were transferred to us last year, digitised in the future. It may take a little while to get the Pictures of Coventry images appearing on the Coventry Collections database. However, we have recently recruited some new digitisation volunteers who will be assisting us, and so we are aiming to have all of them up in time for the City of Culture year. This particular reference you mention of uncatalogued material is a bit before my time, as I began working at Coventry Archives fairly recently. However I can confirm that there are images that feature both places amongst this recent transfer of material from the City Council. These images can be viewed if you want to book an appointment in our research room, which is open Wednesday-Friday 10.30am-3.30pm. Please email historycentre@culturecoventry.com The tram images may be part of another collection that I haven't come across yet. Many thanks, Victoria.

Dear Anne, Many thanks for your email. As you will have seen from my previous posts, we are at the very early stages of digitisation here at Coventry Archives.. I have conducted a quick search on Coventry Collections under the subject term Second World War, and the following 15 reference items appeared via this link. If you have a specific query then please email historycentre@culturecoventry.com and we will aim to assist you. Many thanks, Victoria.

Thanks for the reply Victoria. I know that there are a substantial number of images amongst the History Centre collection that were not part of the Pictures of Coventry online collection, including images in books and boxes eg there is a sketch of the Cow Lane Bushill & Sons factory and a drawing of the end of the Bridewell on the St John's side of the Bablake boys' school, these are not recorded anywhere else as far as I know. It's very interesting to hear that there are new collections from the Council that are making their way to the Herbert. I've examined the images on Historic England and am endlessly surprised at the wealth of images that are being added to the internet. I periodically come across paintings in other museums and I wonder if you're going to have a shout out to them to see if there are any gems that could be added for the period of the City of Culture? I believe there might be another William Henry Brooke collection out there. Wouldn't it be magical if it could be borrowed. If you need any help identifying locations of views within the city, I would be happy to assist, eg I've managed to place almost all of the Dr Troughton sketches to their exact location on the Board of Health map. Good luck with your preparations for 2021.

2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the arrival of around 492 Caribbean men and women on the MV Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks on 22 June 1948. After the Second World War, both inflation and unemployment throughout the Caribbean and the British West Indies, meant that many individuals sought better prospects in their ‘mother country’. The arrival of the ship MV Empire Windrush on 22 June 1948, is widely considered the landmark of post-war mass migration to Britain. Recent research though has brought to light that there were two other ships that arrived earlier than the Windrush; firstly the SS Ormonde in March 1947 at Liverpool. There was also the SS Almanzora, which docked in Southampton on 21st December 1947. The Empire Windrush is generally remembered more as government staff were actively involved in locating accommodation but also jobs for the passengers who each paid £28.10s for the voyage. The arrival of the ship was also covered extensively in the media at the time. Upon arrival some 234 men who had no housing arrangements, were temporarily accommodated in the Clapham Underground deep shelter. The conditions were very basic and so many were keen to move out as quickly as possible. It was reported in government papers, that all of the individuals had left by Monday 12th of July 1948, with the majority of them finding private lodgings and employment. Most of the men gained employment within the field of transport, mechanical engineering, or agriculture. We have discovered that husband and wife, Rossell and Constance Munroe, arrived on the MV Empire Windrush. Both gave their address as 6 Clara Street Coventry. Unfortunately the trail goes cold, as they do not appear in any electoral rolls or trade registers that we hold within our local studies collection in the History Centre. It could have been that they knew the occupants at Clara Street, Mr and Mrs Lee. They might have stayed with them for only a short while, or they temporarily lodged with them before moving on. Our archive and local studies collections reflect the migration of African, Caribbean and West-Indian communities to Coventry, their contribution and the generations born thereafter. We are open Wednesday-Friday 10.30am-3.30pm with alternate Saturdays should you wish to visit us to learn more. Please see our online catalogue Coventry Collections for more details