Deciphering the handwriting of the past at Chiswick House
Nina on the difficulty of deciphering other people’s handwriting in historical documents, and the quest to find women’s lives at Chiswick Asylum.
Blog
Our volunteers have been working hard and having great adventures along the way. Browse the stories below or click on an individual image to see more from an individual volunteer.
Disability and the theatre: The Government Inspector
Gogol’s play is one of a series by a group of UK theatres which want to reframe how disability is staged. The project is called ‘Ramps on the Moon’.
Wanted: film project manager and assistant, Bristol
Could you make a short film for us about the history of the Guild of the Brave Poor Things?
Wanted! Creative practitioners for 9th July pageant – apply now
Creative practitioners wanted for one day to make pilgrim badges, stained glass windows and other appropriate objects in a variety of materials, including clay.
Becoming a History Detective
Maxine Clarke on the thrill of holding 14th century vellum – and realising that Chaucer’s Wife of Bath is deaf.
Join us at Canterbury Medieval Pageant for family activities
Take part in the pageant on Saturday 9th July. Many of our activities explore the lives of disabled people in the 12th century.
The medieval equivalent of Boots?
In which Ben McLoughlin finds the good bits in the ‘spectacularly dry’ Chronicles of the Maison Dieu, so you don’t have to…
Unravelling the life of Francis Peter Gervais
A Northern Irish landowner, preoccupied with refuting those who denied Shakespeare’s authorship, emerges from Aliide Naylor’s research into Chiswick House Asylum.
From poems to Acts of Parliament: our discoveries in Liverpool Records Office
Volunteer Anna finds that discoveries in different archives are already beginning to link together.
The search begins at Bristol Record Office
We find our way around the archives, and one volunteer finds documents relating to his mother.