Latest News from Cheshire Archives and Local Studies
Welcome
Welcome to our latest newsletter! Thank you for agreeing to receive regular updates from us. If you think our news would interest anyone else, they can subscribe here (it is just as easy to unsubscribe).
Progress on the new archives centres
Work on our new archive centres is moving ahead at pace. Windows and brickwork are now taking shape and, as autumn progresses, the scaffolding will begin to come down. Inside, construction of the specialist storage rooms for Cheshire’s archives and local studies collections is nearly complete. We then need to allow plenty of time for the climate within those rooms to stabilise and meet the requirements for the long-term preservation of the archives, so that we will be able to share them with people for generations to come.
Gems project update
Over the summer months, with the help of our research volunteers, we have made great progress with Gems selection, as we continue our search for images and documents which best represent important local stories suggested by the community.
Throughout the autumn, we’ll be drawing upon the expertise of a group at Congleton Museum to help develop our current selection for Congleton while the Macclesfield History Hunters will be digging into our catalogue to identify some of their own local Gems. The archive team are also finalising the latest recommendations for Gems submitted by Middlewich Heritage Trust and Nantwich Museum. If you’d like to contribute to Gems selection, there’s still time to respond to our latest surveys for Northwich and Sandbach.
Sandbach Gems
Northwich Gems
Lego at the Library!
Archives are going full steam ahead again, this time to Sandbach Library with free LEGO build workshops for children. You can read all about how we launched this event at the Kelsall Steam Rally last summer in our Archives in Action article. Contact the library to book your place now!
Sandbach Library
Archives in Action - FULL STEAM AHEAD!
Cheshire Archives online learning
This October, we are delighted to be piloting our new online sessions designed especially for primary schools across Cheshire. These interactive sessions bring history to life, giving students the opportunity to explore popular history topics from the comfort of their classroom.
Bookings for these sessions are now open. Contact our Learning Officer Chloe Kennedy to learn more or to make a booking.
Cheshire Archives - contact us
Chester Archaeological Society collection
We have recently added a number of books and pamphlets from the Chester Archaeological Society library to our catalogue. These items were transferred from the society between 2019 and 2023 to make them more accessible to society members and the public. The 85 books, 148 pamphlets, and two maps are a fantastic source of information about Cheshire which we did not previously have in local studies. People wishing to consult these items will be able to access them in the new archive centre in Chester when we open in 2026.
Cheshire Archives catalogue
Our latest stories shared
In January we asked local art groups to create unique pieces inspired by a range of historic recipes from our collections. The resulting works - from paintings to sculpture, textiles to film - were showcased in a pop-up gallery during July’s Festival of Ideas in Chester.
Archives in Action - Food for Thought
As a former teacher, our Learning Officer knows how hard it is to find suitable resources for primary school history. We’ve now created ready-to-use loan boxes based on topics linked to our collections, local history and National Curriculum objectives.
The Learning Story - What's In The Box?
Over the past year we’ve held events in Winsford to collect oral histories related to the salt mining industry. A local artist and animator have created a short film based on the information we gathered, and the film was launched at Cine-Window in August.
Archives in Action - Mining for Memories: The Movie!
August’s newsletter included the first update from our Journeying to Cheshire project, which collects interviews with people who have moved to Cheshire from other countries. Our second report is about the participants creating zines, to give advice to others who have crossed borders to get here.
Archives in Action - Journeying to Cheshire: Scenes from a Zine workshop
We have a collection of almost 400 books related to Cheshire author Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Over the summer we held a pop-up exhibition at Chester’s Storyhouse to showcase some of our favourites, along with some activities for children, to mark 160 years of the Alice books being in print.
Archives in Action - Alice Illustrated
Staff news
We’re sad to say goodbye to our project's Volunteer Officer, Amelia, who is leaving Cheshire Archives. Amelia has been a fantastic support to our volunteers over the last year and a valued member of the team. We wish her all the very best as she moves on to new opportunities as the Learning Officer for West Cheshire Museums.
