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We look after the historic records of the UK House of Commons and House of Lords, dating back more than 500 years, preserved in the Victoria Tower.
JOB OPPORTUNITY! We are hiring for a Conservation Studio Manager to undertake a programme of specialist conservation treatments to the Archives’ collections and manage the work of the studio team. Apply here by 14th June http://ow.ly/zhs250zWuff
Title: Conservation Studio Manager. Role Type: . Organisation: House of Lords. Salary Range: 30,001 - 40,000 . Closing Date: 21/06/2020, 23:55
30Favourites – Over the centuries Parliament has been the stage of great drama & incident. In May 1812 - Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval was left slain in the Commons lobby by assassin, John Bellingham. This despatch box is said to have been carried by the victim at the time of the infamous murder.
30Favourites - To celebrate International Archives Day, here is the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It was one of the first acts of the new millennium and gives the public the right to request information held by public authorities.
30Favourites – Them Stuarts cast a glorious shadow over our 17th Century collections. This is a list of King Charles I missing treasures compiled by order of newly crowned son Charles in 1660 who wanted his dad’s stuff back!! Including a Van Dyck painting (to be fair you would want that back soon as...)
On this day in 1820 a motion was passed in the Lords to form a secret committee to inspect the contents of the green bags. Learn more here, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQeJ-V-2fJE&feature=youtu.be Image courtesy of the House of Lords Library
30Favourites - Today we have the first plan in our 30 Favourites series. Deposited plans make up around a quarter of our collections – as well as being extremely useful, they can also be very beautiful. Take a look at this colourful plan of Southwold Harbour from 1830
JOB OPPORTUNITY! We are hiring for a Conservation Studio Manager to undertake a programme of specialist conservation treatments to the Archives’ collections and manage the work of the studio team. Apply here by 14th June http://ow.ly/Bfoy50zWucR
Title: Conservation Studio Manager. Role Type: . Organisation: House of Lords. Salary Range: 30,001 - 40,000 . Closing Date: 14/06/2020, 23:55
On this in day in 1820 a message from George IV was presented to both Houses of Parliament with green bags of documents accusing the Queen of adultery whilst living abroad. Read more here, https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/06/02/the-queen-caroline-affair/
30Favourites - I’d like to think what fuelled the sheer Gothic genius of Augustus Pugin was endless cups of tea. Evidence of this could be found in this stunning teapot design with a spout that seems to resemble a duck’s head - then again...is it a coffee-pot- you decide??
On this day in 1820 Caroline of Brunswick arrived back in Britain to claim her rights as the estranged wife and Queen of King George IV.
To mark the 200 year anniversary of the Queen Caroline Affair, we’ve worked with the Citizens 800 Project to make this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQeJ-V-2fJE&feature=youtu.be
Stay tuned this mont as we post some highlights from our collection #QueenCaroline200
30Favourites - A surprising find in our collection was this letter from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, author of the Sherlock Holmes series. Written to the writer and critic Lytton Strachey in 1926, criticising Strachey’s bad review of Conan Doyle’s book the ‘History of Spiritualism’.
30Favourites - Three years ago a routine dig though our collections saw us uncover the long-forgotten Victorian cartoons of Tom Merry in glorious technicolor (Bonus!!) From 1886, he’s depicted Randolph Churchill & William Gladstone in Shakespearian mode in 'The Doom of Macbeth’.
JOB OPPORTUNITY! We are hiring for a Conservation Studio Manager to undertake a programme of specialist conservation treatments to the Archives’ collections and manage the work of the studio team. Apply here by 14th June http://ow.ly/Cksi50zWuaP
Title: Conservation Studio Manager. Role Type: . Organisation: House of Lords. Salary Range: 30,001 - 40,000 . Closing Date: 14/06/2020, 23:55
30Favourites - This helmet was part of the kit that was issued to the ARP Wardens in Parliament during WWII. You can see the portcullis on the front of the Helmet so people would know they were part of the Parliament team
30Favourites - This beautiful family tree and coat of arms is the pedigree of John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich. He had to provide this document to prove his lineage to be able to take up his peerage seat in the House of Lords in 1793.
Fifty years ago the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act was passed - now considered the ‘Magna Carta’ for disability rights. It's an epic tale of how this law came to be & our ‘To the Wire’ blog celebrates this most inspirational of statutes. http://ow.ly/XBML50zVs4b
A blog by staff working in the parliamentary archives
30Favourites - To kick off our 30 Favourites series, it only seemed right to celebrate the institution we are all so grateful for – the NHS! The 1946 Act created a health service that was free at the point of use, the first of its kind anywhere in the world!
For London History Day showing London Resilience in the Parliamentary Home Guard from 1940, with people working together in service to their nation. Formed of about 100 Members and staff, manning observation posts, on fire-watching duty and military drills.
Today is London History Day, focusing on London Resilience. This Journal was one of the few Commons records to survive the 1834 fire because a Clerk threw it out the window! Their resilience saved this important record, albeit with both fire and water damage!
Our second Elizabeth Tower blog tells the story of MP Charles Bradlaugh, the last person to be held in the prison cell in Elizabeth Tower. Read all about it here http://ow.ly/FnBg50zTpAd
On This Day in 1859, the clock in Elizabeth Tower started ticking for the first time - read our latest blog about Emily Kelsall, who laid the first foundation stone of the tower. Written by Dr Kathryn Rix at the History of Parliament Trust http://ow.ly/blKB50zSeMf
LAST CHANCE TO APPLY! We are recruiting for the role of Digital Archivist, to support the delivery of a comprehensive digital preservation function for the archives. Closes tomorrow night, apply here http://ow.ly/OmxE50zFVT6
Title: Digital Archivist. Role Type: . Organisation: House of Lords. Salary Range: 30,001 - 40,000 . Closing Date: 31/05/2020, 23:55
Yesterday marked the 50th Anniversary of the Equal Pay Act. Today we’ve got this photo of Barbara Castle from our collections. As Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity, she was responsible for bringing in the Act and supporting the Dagenham Ford Strike
Our latest blog is available to read now! Click the link to learn about Victoria Tower, the purpose-built storage for the collection of the Parliamentary Archives http://ow.ly/g56K50zRemP
30Favourites - For the month of June each day we shall be showcasing our own personal thirty favourite items from the Archive collections. So, expect the eclectic, the iconic and everything in between – Prepare to be Intrigued!
On the 50th anniversary of the #EqualPay Act, read our blog - The Long Road to the Equal Pay Act 1970 https://archives.blog.parliament.uk/2020/05/20/the-long-road-to-the-equal-pay-act-1970/
NEW! For the 50th anniversary of the Equal Pay Act 1970, watch our brand new video produced in partnership with @Citizens800 @RoyalHolloway http://ow.ly/k0R650zTjZ6
On This Day in 1970, the Equal Pay Act was passed, meaning employers had to pay men and women equally for the same level of work. Although it wasn't implemented until 1975, and many employers found ways to get around the law, it was still an important step forward
Our latest blog is available to read now! Click the link to learn about Alf Morris' monumental efforts to get the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act passed in 1970, an unprecedented act for equality http://ow.ly/PRRQ50zQkLN
A blog by staff working in the parliamentary archives
This Royal Seal has a slightly oversized metal box (skippet), our conservator has made a Plastazote tray with cotton handles so the seal can be safely lifted out of the skippet.
Check out our blog to learn more! http://ow.ly/LUHS50zDXyj
We are recruiting for the role of Digital Archivist, to support the delivery of a comprehensive digital preservation function for the archives. Closes soon, apply here http://ow.ly/OmxE50zFVT6
Title: Digital Archivist. Role Type: . Organisation: House of Lords. Salary Range: 30,001 - 40,000 . Closing Date: 31/05/2020, 23:55
It's 360 years since the restoration of the Monarchy. In 1660 Charles II became King 11 years after his father, Charles I, was beheaded.
Today’s record is the House of Lords Journal entry from May 1660, in which Charles II is proclaimed King.
Pack and Track have been making book trousers so barcodes aren't stuck onto book spines. Pre lockdown staff were sent paper and tools, and a how-to guide was uploaded to YouTube. This is one of many ways we have found ways to work at home #BehindTheScenes https://youtu.be/MWOPZtrruYg
It’s Mental Health Awareness Week which feels very important at this moment in time. As we are aware that it can affect all of us in some form. Famously Winston Churchill suffered from bouts of depression which he called the ‘black dog’. Mental Health Foundation The CALMzone
May 1991 saw the Queen travel to America to address the US Congress for the first time. Of course, she took it in her stride after decades of experience speaking to Parliament at the State Opening Address. Here she is in 1970 with a young Princess Anne in attendance.
Houses Of Parliament
London
SW1A 0PW
Westminster Tube (Jubilee, Circle and District lines)
Our searchroom at Westminster is open to anyone to come and consult the archives, please contact us in advance to make an appointment.
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| Wednesday | 10:00 - 16:00 |
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This week we're going behind the scenes at the Parliamentary Archives to showcase the work our teams do. Here we have a time-lapse video of a recent exhibition install. This exhibition covers the Treaty of Versailles. The same day we also installed one about The Newport Rising.
Today we're going behind the scenes with our Imaging Team who have been working on a range of documents and books. Here’s a short time-lapse of them at work.
This time lapse shows the installation of our Parliament & the First World War exhibition. You can find out more information on visiting the exhibition here, http://ow.ly/bDQ330dAU5X
Take a look at how the Parliamentary Archives digitises its records, a process which will take hundreds of years to complete if we were to do the entire collection
Find out how UK Parliamentary Archives helps people find information in over 3 million records in its collection.
Musée de l'Abbaye de Westminster
PO Box 3310
