The following work has been undertaken since 21 December 2023.
‘Stories’ on the BRS website
We have created a new section of the website Stories…from the archives. This will consist of short peer-reviewed articles featuring research based on recent archival discoveries. The primary intent of these stories is to show how History is rooted in explorations conducted in archives and through primary sources. Our first story is:
Evan Jones, Locating Bewell’s Cross (15 March, 2024).
BHA pamphlets
The remaining 28 pamphlets have been edited / transferred to the BRS Collection on the Internet Archive.
Items epublished and added to the BRS Collection
Arrowsmith, Arrowsmith 1854-1954 1954-1979 (J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd. 2nd ed. 1979)
Commemorative volume about the history of the Bristol printers and publishers J. W. Arrowsmith Ltd.
W. R. Barker, St. Mark’s; or, The Mayor’s Chapel, Bristol, (Formerly called the Church of the Gaunts.) (Bristol: W. C. Hemmons 1892)
There was a copy of this available online already, but it was low resolution and missing the illustrations. So, we felt it worth digitising and adding to our collection. We dedicated this epublication to Alderman Royston Griffey, for his services to Bristol’s history and heritage.
Charles Henry Cave, A History of Banking in Bristol from 1750 to 1899 (privately printed by W. Crofton Hemmons, Bristol, 1899), viii pp, 292 pp & 85 plates
Digitised and uploaded in January with some images added to Wikimedia/Wikipedia. The Cave Family History Society have sponsored the epublication, with a donation to the BRS.
Maurice H. Fitzgerald, The Story of Bristol Cathedral (London, 1936), 80pp.
A popular history of the Cathedral. The epublication is dedicated to the art and architectural historian, Jon Cannon (d. 2023).
Peter Fleming, ‘Processing Power: Performance, Politics and Place in Early Tudor Bristol’ (2012)
A chapter originally published in an edited volume and reproduced by us with Professor Fleming’s permission.
Nathaniel Micklem, Arnold Thomas of Bristol: collected papers and addresses (London, 1925)
A biography of the minister of Highbury Chapel (1876-1923), followed by selected papers on religious themes.
A tourist guidebook, written by the City Librarian and antiquarian James Fawckner Nicholls. This popular guide continued to published until at least 1931.
Port of Bristol Authority, The Port of Bristol Official Handbook 1955 (Bristol, 1955)
Useful for data on the port and how the PBA sought to promote Bristol.
Pamphlet about the chapel written by the City Archivist, Elizabeth Ralph and Henley Evans.
W. N. Reid and W. E. Hicks, Leading Events in the History of the Port of Bristol (Bristol, 1877)
A trade book produced by journalists at the Western Daily Press to commemorate the opening of the Avonmouth Docks.
An eighteenth-centiry religious conduct guide, written by the lecturer at St Nicholas Church, Bristol.
James Ross, The Cathedral Church of Bristol: Historical and Descriptive Handbook (Bristol, 1930, thirteenth edition), 68 pp.
Written by the City Librarian, this was the standard cheap pamphlet / guide to the Cathedral sold in Bristol from c.1930-52. Epublication dedicated to Jon Cannon.
Paul Slack, ‘The Local Incidence of Epidemic Disease: the Case of Bristol 1540-1650’ in Paul Slack (ed.), The Plague Reconsidered: A new look at its origins and effects in 16th and 17th Century England (Local Population Studies Supplement, 1977), pp. 49-62
This important article was rescanned and added to the BRS Collection.
John Taylor, Antiquarian Essays contributed to the “Saturday Review” (Bristol, 1895)
A collection of essays on historical and archaeological subjects, written the Bristol City Librarian, John Taylor.
R. C. Tombs, The Bristol Royal Mail. Post, Telegraph, and Telephone (J. W. Arrowsmith, 1899)
There was already a copy of this online, but it was not user-friendly.
Wikipedia
In many cases the epublication of works was followed by an element of Wikipedia editing to help direct people to the online version.
A number of Wikipedia pages have been created or heavily augmented, including new pages for the Victorian City Librarian John Taylor and the twentieth-century City Archivist, Elizabeth Ralph.
Professor Peter Fleming’s book
This has now been published by the Yorkist History Trust with copies due to be sent out to subscribers over the coming weeks. For further details about the book and how to order:
Peter Fleming, Late Medieval Bristol: Time, Space and Power (March 2024)
Usage of BRS digital resources
The Bristol Record Society Collection on the Internet Archive is currently receiving around 1,400 views per month.
The BRS website, received 1,239 visits in the last 30 days from 401 individual visitors. About a third of the visitors came from outside the UK.
Bristol Record Society 