"This article is intended as an exercise in‘reflective practice’ rather than a piece of academic writing. It describes an innovative and successful oral history project at Frome in Somerset, which resulted in the publication of a book called Working Memories, reviewed elsewhere in this edition of Regional Historian.The article covers the background to the project;the choice of sample of 90 people interviewed;the collection of photos and memorabilia; the editing of the interviews; how oral history relates to other forms of history; and some substantive and methodological conclusions that might be drawn from the project".
Tag: primary sources
Invoices from the Past: The household expenses of a farming family in early 19th century Wiltshire
The Wiltshire and Swindon Record Office is home to a remarkably complete collection of invoices from two branches of the Pyke family of nineteenth century Wiltshire. This article highlights just how much information can be drawn from a simple source like a bill or a voucher. Through these sources, archivist Steven Hobbs provides a window not only into the household economy and estate expenditure of the two farms, but also into the local community. A full spectrum of local trades and skilled workers are revived in this short article, along with information about the kinds of products that were available in nineteenth century Wiltshire.
Remarks on Two Prints: The ‘View of the Entrance to the Lower St. James’ Arcade, Bristol’ and the ‘Interior of the Upper St. James’ Arcade’.
These two delightful prints portraying the Upper and Lower St. James’s Arcades in Broadmead seem particularly appropriate for inclusion, in this issue of The Regional Historian,since they are from the Braikenridge Collection the subject of Sheena Stoddard’s new book reviewed here. They celebrate too the luxurious properties of glass - a subject discussed in Sue Gordon’s article on the Bristol glass industry.
Picture in Context: The Grand Reform Dinner on Brandon Hill
In the summer of 1832, Bristol artist William Muller followed an extensive series of paintings and sketches recording the previous year’s Reform riots, with this interesting drawing of a Reform celebration. Steve Poole analyses the details present in the picture, as well as the significance of the events in the picture, placing them in larger context.
Documents in Context: A fifteenth-century Bristol ordinance concerning aliens.
This is the first in an occasional series in which a document relating to the history of Bristol and its region is reproduced and discussed. The aim is to provide discussion points, not to provide the last word on the issues raised. Peter Fleming investigates a number of sources relating to the growing population of 'non-Bristolians' migrating to the city, and how they were perceived.