Walsall Archives

June is also Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. Walsall Archives has teamed up with Walsall Libraries and other partners including One Love Community Music and Arts CIC to create three exhibitions at Love Blakenhall Community Hub, Bloxwich Library and Willenhall Library. The exhibitions celebrate the life of former Mayor, travelling showman and entrepreneur Pat Collins and 'Queen of the Gypsies' - Louisa Price as well as community artwork and visual displays from One Love. Love Walsall Libraries Our Walsall

Dive into the fascinating world of confectionary with Emma Barran-Scott on Saturday 4 July at 11.30am. Contact us to book a free place!

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To mark Pride Month we have partnered with the library to create a display around the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE), most active during the 1970's. The display includes a brief history and sample pages from the minutes of the Walsall CHE although the full documents can be read by making an appointment to view them at Walsall Archives due to copyright restrictions.

The CHE minutes that we hold are copies of originals kept in the Hall-Carpenter Archives (HCA), London School of Economics Library, HCA/CHE/7/141.

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We are delighted to announce that we have been awarded accredited status as part of the UK Archive Service Accreditation scheme, that is overseen by The National Archives.
Archive Service Accreditation is the UK standard for archive management and recognises services that demonstrate a long-term commitment to preserving and providing public access to archive collections.

You can see full details of the announcement here - https://go.walsall.gov.uk/newsroom/walsall-archives-service-achieves-national-accreditation and the news story from The National Archives here - https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/news/200th-uk-archive-awarded-accredited-status/

Pictured is the Charles I charter of incorporation, issued to the Town in 1627.

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A Journey from Walsall to Palestine in 1842

One of the nicest small collections among Walsall’s Archives is the series of diaries of the Reverend George Fisk, Vicar of Walsall, 1837-1845. These four diaries record his journey from England across France and Italy, to Egypt. He then travelled across the desert to Palestine and arrived back in England via Turkey, Hungary, Germany and Holland—a journey of more than 3,000 miles, lasting 8 months. His diaries include beautiful pencil sketches of the places and people he saw.

Walsall Archives teamed up with the library to deliver an activity session encouraging children to engage with the exhibition about Fisk’s incredible journey. Tash created a series of tasks to get children thinking about life as a Victorian explorer and adventurer.

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To draw Local Community and History Month to a fitting close, Archives Officer, Helen has researched The Walsall Anarchists.

The display features two letters, written by Victor Cailes and Jean Battola, providing insight into the minds of the men and the events in Walsall in 1892 when Chief Constable Taylor of Walsall Police arrested a group of six men he had been tracking since the previous year.

Three of the men were local to the area and all members or guests of the Walsall Socialist Club. They were arrested and charged under the Explosives Act 1883 with conspiracy relating to the production of explosives. The accused were tried at Stafford Assizes, where the prosecution case relied heavily on evidence such as anarchist literature, a sketch of the proposed bomb and a statement by one of the men.

The intrigue around the plot sparked works such as Joseph Conrad’s novel ‘The Secret Agent’. It is also interesting to note that Chief Inspector Melville went on to head up the Secret Service Bureau, the forerunner to MI5, and is often considered the inspiration behind the James Bond character ‘M’.
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We are now entering our third week of Local & Community History Month, and we have a collection chosen by Libby, a Senior Archives Officer. She has chosen Accession 407 "The Papers of George Willott, former Principal of Walsall School of Art”.

The collection dates from 1919-1980’s and was donated to us from the Walsall College of Art. It is made up of photographs, notebooks and sketch books illustrating a wide range of subjects. A couple of sketch books contain portraits, botanicals, and local scenes, and others concentrate on motifs, architecture and textiles.

George was born in 1902 in Macclesfield and was known for his eccentric choice of silk ties and hats. After qualifying from the Royal College of Art, he moved to Walsall in 1926 as Chief Assistant Master at the School of Art, Goodall Street, where he remained until 1966. He was responsible for the town’s first illuminations on Victory Night 1945. When he was made Principal, the School was 190 strong, when he retired, this had increased to 800!

My favourite part of the collection holds some of the first prospectuses from Edwardian era including photographs of the classes that took place there, but the exhibit also includes, some of his sketches.

Why not pay us a visit at the Lichfield Street Hub and view these intriguing exhibitions for yourself.

We visited Brownhills Library yesterday to run a drop-in Archives session as part of Local & Community History Month. Ian gave a talk on the Grove Colliery Disaster of 1930 which was very well received particularly by two people in the audience who had family connections to the pit. The library also has a brilliant display celebrating the 20th anniversary of the famous Brownhills miner statue. Our thanks to the wonderful staff for their hospitality yesterday and to all that engaged with us. It was a hugely enjoyable day! Love Walsall Libraries Walsall for All

If you've loved finding out about the wonderful collections in our archives pop up to the Reference floor in Central Library (Lichfield Street Hub) where the team have created a mini exhibition of some of the highlights. Love Walsall Libraries Walsall for All