An online journal for the North Devon Athenaeum
Like many organisations we had several plans for 2020 including joints events, talks, blog posts and various other projects both large and small. However, for the second time in our history we were to find ourselves in the midst of a global pandemic. As we start looking forward to the new year, we take a …
Discover the Thomas Becket Connection...On Our Shelves! One of the oldest seals of Barnstaple commemorates one of the most infamous murders in English History…the murder of Archbishop Thomas Becket on this day in 1170. The seal belongs to Barnstaple’s Bridge Trust and depicts the Chapel built at the town end of the now grade I …
Assistant Librarian, Sandi, continues her look into past pandemics... My Great Uncle George Apps was a soldier in the 5th Middlesex Battalion in WW1 who survived the conflict only to die of Influenza, the “Spanish Flu”, in England on 25 February 1919. He is commemorated on the Commonwealth War Graves Memorial at the City of …
During Lockdown our Assistant Librarian, Sandi, has been looking into past pandemics... The Plague There were a number of waves of the Plague that periodically swept as epidemics but the most fatal pandemics were the Black Death 1346-53 and the Great Plague 1665-66 the last major outbreak in England. There were three type of plague …
On the 2nd of November 1960, a jury of three women and nine men delivered a not guilty verdict in one of the most sensational court cases of the 20th Century, R v. Penguin Books Ltd. At first glance there is very little to suspect a North Devon connection to the infamous case, however, as …
Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the opening of RAF Chivenor and while the RAF may have moved on, the base is still being used by the military today. We thought we would take a look back at some of the posts we have published over the last 7 years. The RAF Chivenor Collection We …
After researching the Birth of the NHS for her blog post earlier this year our Assistant Librarian, Sandi, has been looking into the life of Mary Seacole for Black History Month.... We have all heard of Florence Nightingale the Crimea Nurse but few know the name of Mary Seacole. Yet at the time, 1856, the …
While the celebrations marking the end of the War in Europe swept across the country, there were many who were still waiting to hear news from the men fighting in the east. “Although the European War was over, it didn’t really affect me. All the jollifications. My husband was still fighting, I was still upset. …
Continue reading "Discover VJ Day and the War in the Far East…On Our Shelves!"
My mother remembered that in 1927, after her younger brother was born, he had to wear a shoulder and arm splint because his arm had been broken during his delivery. My Grandmother had been assisted during the birth, like most lower-class women, by an untrained local woman. The cost of a doctor per visit of …
As part of International Archives Week we are taking a look at some of the posts we’ve written about the document and archive collections in our care and the work we do. Today we’re taking a look at some of the posts we’ve written about what we get up to when the public aren’t in …
Continue reading "5 Posts Which Take You Behind the Scenes…"
