Events at the Record Office

The Record Office organises and hosts a number of events throughout the year on a variety of topics.

As part of Local & Community History Month within Leicestershire County Council the Record Office has a Talk taking place by Phil Leach from the Media Archive for Central England. This will include a film show and talk about the MACE Archive. Pre-booking is advisable and there is a small charge of £2. Please contact the Office if you wish to book.

John Hutchinson, Archivist to Leicester City Football Club and Curator of the touring exhibition gave a talk on long forgotten stories from the Leicester City FC Archives.

The Local Studies Library at the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland has an extensive collection of Ladybird books. On Thursday 18^th March 2010, a publicity event was held to illustrate the gems within the library collection.  Over 10,000 items have been generously donated direct from the publishers, nearly 1,500 have already been catalogued (and you can find these on the Leicestershire & Rutland library service on-line catalogue – try a search for ‘L094’ as a classification/shelf number to see what we have available to view).

Some rare items were showcased on the night: the ‘Sunbird series’ ‘Out of town’, and ‘Alphabet Book’, both signed by their authors; ‘Keyword series’ flashcards, and books by our own local authors, and the highlight of the night was a talk by Kathie Layfield, who brought some of her original artwork.

On Saturday 7th November the Record Office held an Open Day.  The theme of the day was the 1960s - a decade of great change locally, nationally and, of course, musically, which it is hoped will convey the message that archives can inform us of our recent as well as our distant past. Visitors were able to find out about the 1960s in Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland through our local studies and archive collections and also had the opportunity to bring in some of their own documents and photographs from that era to show us.

It was an opportunity for people to find out more about the work and resources of the Office through an informal programme of events and entertainments.  There were tours of the searchrooms and strongrooms, a demonstration of conservation techniques, family history advice, exhibitions, displays and live music was performed throughout the day by Leicestershire group "Stranded in the Sixties". 'Talkin 'bout our Generations' was opened by local author, Lynda Page, who was on hand to sign books and answer questions.  Lynda's most recent novel, 'No Way Out', is set in the Leicester of the 1960s. Staff were also on hand to answer questions on family and local history of all eras.

We had hula hoops and table skittles for the children and the refreshments had a 1960s twist to them, with chips and mushy peas and cheese & pineapple on sticks being served, along with sweets and crisps from the time, all washed down with Ginger Beer and Dandelion & Burdock.

Over 200 people came through the door and both visitors and staff enjoyed the day. Below is a selection of pictures from the event.

On Wednesday 18 November 2009 at 6-8 pm there was a presentation to the Record Office of 23 original newsletters published by Samuel Walker and Sons, printers of Hinckley and a book launch "Confronting the Nazi War on Christianity : The Kulturkampf Newsletters, 1936-1939".

The Kulturkampf Newsletters, which have never appeared in English since the 1930s, were produced by German Catholic exiles in France.  They scrupulously document the tensions between various strands of Nazi policy and the nature of the policy eventually adoped : this was to reduce the Churches' influence in all areas of public life through the use of every available means, yet without provoking the difficulties - diplomatic as well as domestic - which an openly declared war of extermination might have caused.

The company,  Samuel Walker's, Printers and Publishers Ltd, was founded by Samuel Walker, c.1900 when he was just 23. He had been a pupil at Hinckley Grammar School and had worked as a journalist on the Hinckley Times. Samuel's brother, Fred, joined the Dominican Order and became a priest. This helped the company forge links with the Dominicans and other orders. A large proportion of the work they did was for the Church, especially for missionary orders, like the White Fathers, who are in Africa and other far off places. The company folded in 1997.

Legacy of Partition Project