Talks & Events at Coventry Archives

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?

Treating and Cheating: Violence, intimidation, vote rigging and ballads, just another day in a Coventry election campaign with Carolyn Ewing 4 August 2018 1.00pm – 2.00pm From ballots to ballads, come and discover more about the political shenanigans in Coventry during the 18th and early 19th centuries. The talk will be illustrated by documents from the Archives, including an ode to an Alderman, “an exceeding grate fool, First cousin to Dullness and half Brother to Mule”! __________________________________________ Disappear Here with Adam Steiner 1 September 2018 1.00pm – 2.00pm Disappear Here was a project that aimed to bring together nine writers and film-makers to make a series of films about the Coventry ring road. Coventry ring road (A4053) runs a mere 2.25 miles around the centre of Coventry and inspires numerous love/hate relationships. A series of 27 poetry films were produced that reimagined the Coventry ring road as a singular place of new possibilities. All talks are suitable for 18+ and are £5 per person to book in advance - see our website

Dear All, I just wanted to notify you all of this new exhibition, Art Air and Illness, which is on at the Lanchester research gallery in the Graham Sutherland building at Coventry University. It starts from 8th-29th of June and is open Monday-Friday 10.00am-4.30pm. We have lent 7 items from the CCC/EH environmental City Council collection, held within Coventry Archives. The exhibition, curated by Dr Amanda Sciampacone (University of Warwick-Leverhulme Early-Career Fellow) sheds new light on significant relations between art and science in shaping how we perceive and experience the impact of the environment on human health, culturally, societally, and through the very air we breathe. It showcases an exceptional range of rare archival maps, weather charts, historic meteorological texts, and public health photographs on loan from the National Meteorological Library and Archives and Coventry Archives, alongside new works by contemporary artist, Jayne Wilton, linked to the ‘Life of Breath’ project, University of Durham-Wellcome Trust. The exhibition is part of a larger Leverhulme Trust project, led by Dr Sciampacone, featuring a conference, 'Cultural Histories of Air and Illness' at the University of Warwick (8–9 June 2018), and the scholarly LRG exhibition and workshop in collaboration with Coventry University (Faculty of Arts and Humanities, Visual Arts Research). Victoria.

Womens' Lives in Coventry During the First World War 10 November 2018 1.00pm – 2.00pm Cathy Hunt looks at the experiences of women in Coventry between 1914 and 1918. Here she covers the great range of work that women were involved in, from munitions production and public services to nursing, welfare and policing. These were years of changes and uncertainties but life went on; the talk paints a vivid picture of daily life on the home front – of worries over child care, rising prices, shopping and food shortages as well as deep anxieties about loved ones at the Front and of how to care for those who came home. £5 - book in advance

Book Launch & Signing - Coventry Pubs by Fred Luckett 3 October 2018 10.30am – 3.30pm Local author Fred Luckett will be at the Coventry Archives to launch his new book Coventry Pubs. "Coventry city centre has suffered greatly over the years at the hands of German bombers and city planners, but head out to its Victorian suburbs and you'll find a diverse variety of pubs. From hosteleries of genuine antiquity through to battered old boozers and from cutting-edge brewpubs to craft beer bars. Local pub historian, Fred Luckett, takes us on a tour of the city's finest and most characterful drinking establishments. From bustling alehouses that maintain a live music scence through to traditional traverns offering a more sedate atmosphere redolent of a seemingly bygone age, this book will guide you through the city's pub landscape" (Luckett, 2018) The book will be available to purchase for £14.99 and Fred will sign your purchased copy himself.

Fred's Real Ale Rambles website has been an invaluable source of research for me. Must buy him at least a pint!

I owe lots to Fred and his Real Ale Rambles web site. It's one of the top 5 sites I've used to work out the city streets. Historic Coventry being number 1, Of course. I'm hoping that the Herbert online services make it back into the top 5 soon - pretty please - but in the real world they've been invaluable. I wish I was closer, to mine their treasures.

Is Fred on here BTW?

Can't wait to get a copy of Cathy's book, it looks so interesting and linked to my own family history, the women of Coventry! Also to meeting Cathy herself!

I agree with you Neil's Yard about Fred's research and work on Coventry's pubs. It has helped me out in my area of research and writing for sure. I missed his talk but hope there will be another somewhere in the city, perhaps the Central Library?

See above Ruth - Fred's launch is tomorrow.

Dear All, I forward details of new guidance on access to our computers/microfilm readers at Coventry Archives. Can you forward on to anyone you think would benefit being aware off. Note that our last open day for 2018 will be Friday 21st December. Coventry Archives will be closed from and including December 24 for Christmas and stocktaking, reopening on Wednesday 16 January 2019. Please also be aware that the historycentre@culturecoventry.com email will cease to exist from January 2019. Use the archives@culturecoventry.com email instead for all remote enquiries. Wishing you all a relaxing Christmas and New Year period. With regards, Victoria Northridge. Access to computers/microfilm readers Our free access to Ancestry is provided through the City Council Central Library system. In order to enable as much access to our computer/microfilm readers for everyone, we are adopting similar guidance used by all Coventry Libraries. You can book a machine in advance via our telephone 024 7623 7583 or book in person. A computer or microfilm reader can be used for free for 2 hours max per day. If you wish to use a computer/microfilm reader for longer then there is a £2.00 charge per hour for any additional time thereafter. To conserve energy all computers will be kept switched off, unless pre-booked. Please ask a member of staff for access. Due to recent security breaches, no USB sticks can be used and all web browsing data will be cleared overnight by our IT service. We can provide prints of any documents located on a computer or microfilm reader.

Marks and Spencer in Coventry: Treasured Tales Saturday 27 April 2019 1.00pm – 2.00pm Join Victoria Northridge, Archivist Manager at Coventry Archives for a talk about the recently grade II listed Marks and Spencer building which opened in 1954. Learn more about the architect, see original drawing plans and find out what people thought of the shop when it first opened. £5 | Drop In ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Trace Your Family Tree Saturday 11 May 2019 1.00pm – 3.00pm Come along to a taster session for absolute beginners at Coventry Archives 1.00pm to 3.00pm Book your place by ringing 024 7623 7583 £15 | Places are Limited ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Coventry’s Godly Magistrate: The Diary of Robert Beake, Mayor of Coventry, 1655/6 Saturday 8 June 2019 1.00pm – 2.00pm Robert Beake is one of Coventry’s most interesting mayors. He was a parliamentary soldier in the Civil War, master of the Drapers Company, mayor and an MP in the parliaments of 1654, 1656, 1660 and 1679. He kept a journal giving an account of his day-to-day activity as mayor in 1655/6. Using this journal and other documents from Coventry’s archives, the talk will explore Beake’s attempts to build a model ‘Godly Society’ in Coventry and his career as an MP. £5 | Booking required through Eventbrite We hope to see you there. Victoria Northridge Archivist Manager

The Coventry Family History Society have a help desk within the Archives on a Thursday each month, 12.30pm-2pm. The next few sessions will be on: Thursday 2nd May Thursday 13th June Thursday 11th July No Help Desk in August