Following International Women's Day yesterday & in advance of our exhibition 'Fallen' opening later this month, we wanted to share our highlight looking at the first-hand testimonies of the earliest women admitted to Clewer House of Mercy in the mid 19thC bit.ly/3P3l6Qa
Red hard hat on the ground.
A reminder that we have preparatory building works taking place in the office this week. It will be noisy at times and we will have reduced access to some of our collections.
Please contact us on archives@reading.gov.uk if you have any queries about visiting us this week.
1510 probate record with a seal depicting the murder of Thomas Becket
Spotted in the searchroom this week was this 1510 probate with a very interesting seal! It appears to depict the murder of Thomas Becket and is in pretty good condition given its age! 📷 D/EBP/E33
Two dust jackets with children's illustrations. One features a large horseshoe and a rabbit floating on an umbrella over a duck pond, and the other shows various toys jumping after a bird who is flying towards the sun.
Happy World Book Day! We found these lovely proofs of dust jackets for a couple of of Enid Blyton's novels, aren't they charming? 📸 D/EX2012/24/2
Photograph of building work showing scaffolding and half built wall.
❗ Advanced notice for visitors. Some preparatory works for our extension are taking place 9-13 March, this work will be noisy at times. From 2-20 March we will also have reduced access to one of our strongrooms. Please check with us in advance that any docs you wish to see are available.
Men and women in evening dress sat around long tables.
Happy St. David's Day for yesterday. Here we have members of the Reading and District Welsh Society enjoying their St. David's Day dinner in 1955.
The final part of our Wonderful Wallingford blog series is now available to read on our website: bit.ly/4kH6aD6. Read to learn about the role Wallingford Borough played in public health and housing in the 20th century.
Covers of Yellow Pages 1978 for Cardiff, Edinburgh, Northern Ireland and Reading
Did you know that we hold the national archive of Yellow Pages telephone directories? ☎️ For #EYAConnections we’re shining a light on this once-essential tool that helped people stay connected!
Poster advertising the newest exhibition. It shows a photograph of 5 smiling women in religious clothing. The tag-line is "How one institution helped women transform their lives.". It also states "24 March to 26 June 2026, Tuesday to Thursday 9am to 5pm, Fridays 9am to 4:30pm". The logo for the Royal Berkshire Archives is on the bottom.
We are one month away from opening our newest exhibition! "Fallen: The Clewer House of Mercy 1848-1954" opens on March 24 2026, and we couldn't be more excited for you to see it. #Exhibition #Fallen
RBA mascot Godric opening map drawers in the strongroom
It's been a busy week for Godric, who's been hard at work helping out with document production! Luckily he has his new jumper to keep him warm in the chilly strongrooms! ❄️ 👕
Learn about newly catalogued items at the RBA by reading Feb's Just Catalogued. Lots of additions to existing collections this month including the Wallingford Relief in Need Charity, Broadmoor, and Berkshire (later Berkshire and Oxfordshire) Farmers’ Union
A stack of pancakes with a spatula in the background.
Happy Pancake Day! 🥞 How do you like yours; chocolatey, fruity, syrupy, savoury, or the classic sugar and lemon combination? This author loves some chocolate spread 😋
Small dog on the back of a horse.
Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the year of the horse 🐎 In this photograph, it looks like this dog decided to get a better view of the surrounding fields on the back of his pal! It doesn't look like the horse minds too much 😄
📸 D/EZ198/5/3/5
A 1930s advertisement for a radio‑gramophone offering the "highest standard of home entertainment for years to come". The radio is marketed as an "exquisite entertainer", capable of reproducing the radio programmes of Europe with perfect tone quality and complete ease.
Its World Radio Day! 📻 What better way to celebrate than with this 1930s radio‑gramophone advert - an "exquisite entertainer" guaranteed to charm any room! 📷 D/EX1718/2/26/2
It's National Embroidery month, to celebrate we wanted to re-share Archives Assistant Amber's favourite item, a piece of silver wire embroidery. Watch the video to learn more about the item and why she chose it.
The stories that made us. The decades that defined us 🗞️
Uncover the “good old days” as they really were in 100 million pages of history.
Delve deeper into our newspapers for FREE until 16 February.
➡️ https://bit.ly/4r2KB2a
Front cover of a school Logbook.
Have you had a chance to read our latest blog post? We sent out "A Surprising Window into the Past" with our February newsletter, read now to find out how a simple school logbook can show us how big events impacted small communities. bit.ly/4toqP2Y
A cartoon style illustration titled 'Pre-Historic Pastimes' showing a fur-clad person skating on a frozen surface using animal bones as skates. Another figure skates in the background. The caption says 'Skating in the Glacial Epoch.'
We've got our bone skates and cold weather gear ready for the Winter Olympics! Anyone fancy joining us? 😆
#WinterOlympics #FridayFun
Jacksons Department store in Reading
On 14 Feb, join members of Reading Civic Society in the Garden Hall of Watlington House for their AGM, complete with a talk about Jacksons Department store from Thomas Macey. Thomas will bring a selection of original archives to view during and after the talk.
buff.ly/XyQK0mh
Papers in a case concerning a pew dispute in Warfield, 1677
This month’s highlight takes the saying "take a pew" to a whole new level. Discover the story behind a 17th century pew dispute case in Warfield, and why it still matters today, here: bit.ly/4ayYtdN
"The Berkshire Tame Performing Hedgehog: A real Wallingfordian. The Hedgehog called Jimmy, my pal, has travelled over five thousand miles up and down the country and has entertained thousands of children and adults at various schools." The pamphlets goes on to say that Jimmy enjoys eating mice best of all, travels from 10 to 15 miles and hour comfortably, and is used to riding in trains, private cars, and even the London underground. He has a passion for string music, especially the zither harp. He is fond of playing with a ball, and barks at about 2AM every night. Jimmy is very tidy. He is also friendly, and comes out of his ball when touched.
It's National Hedgehog Day! 🦔 To celebrate, we found this lovely pamphlet advertising the Berkshire Tame Performing Hedgehog, named Jimmy. He could jump through small hoops and even had a set of bells to play at home. He was also particularly fond of string music! #hedgehog
Jigsaw puzzle of a garden of flowers
Jigsaw puzzle advertising 'useful' gifts
Today is National Puzzle Day! 🧩 To celebrate we spent some time piecing together this reversible jigsaw puzzle by Foster Brothers Clothing Company Ltd, Wokingham from c.1950s 📷 D/EX2694/1
A black and white photo of three men standing at a train station. In the background is a steam train with the words 'SLOUGH TRADING ESTATE' written on the side. The driver looks out the window.
We've found this photo of the Woodley / Slough train but we're not sure of the year! Any ideas?
Wonder what it's like to work in an archive? Wonder no more. One of our archive assistants has written a blog describing what a typical day at the RBA is like. Have a read to find out more:
Pen illustration of Nuthatch.
Pen illustration of Whitethroat.
Pen illustration of Swift.
Pen illustration of White Owl.
Is anyone taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch? T W Marshall did his own nature watch during the 1930s. His diaries and notes are housed here and contain a daily log about the weather and natural life he had seen. This includes many birds often accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations.
Montage of four photographs showing three people looking at a book, a pink banner, a group of people around a table, and people looking at exhibition cases.
We're throwing it back to 2016 looking through our office archives. Staff received disaster training, we held a Heritage Open Day event, received a visit from the Anhui Province Local History Compilation Committee Office, and displayed records in the 'Art Angel' installation at Reading prison!
Thanks for sharing your memories ☺️
This month's highlight looks at advice given to new mothers in the 1960s. Have a read to see how things have changed (or stayed the same) over the years!
Burial entry for Agatha Mary Clarissa Mallowan (Agatha Christie).
50 years ago today, Agatha Mallowan, better known as Agatha Christie, was buried in the graveyard at St Mary's, Cholsey. The register recording the burial is now held by us. This autumn we will be holding an exhibition celebrating this renowned author and local resident.
black and photograph showing an arial view of Reading from Reading Museum's collection
black and photograph showing an arial view of Reading from Reading Museum's collection
black and photograph showing an arial view of Reading from Reading Museum's collection
black and photograph showing an arial view of Reading from Reading Museum's collection
Do you recognise any of these views of Reading? They were taken from the top of a water tower in Mill Lane over 100 years ago and show landmarks still identifiable today.
📷 Photography by Mr Lewis taken c. 1900-1903
#FridayFinds
