Jenni Orme | The National Archives blog

Posts by Jenni Orme

I have worked at The National Archives for 4 years, beginning as a Researcher on the 1911 Census before it was released online and moving through various roles in our Advice and Records Knowledge and Freedom of Information teams before taking on my ideal role as a Diverse Histories Records Specialist. I have a background in History and Cultural Heritage, and so love the way my role allows me to work daily with the records, but at the same time have a lot of interaction with the public and other teams in the organisation, being involved in many different projects at any one time. I love the diversity of the records we hold and the daily surprises my colleagues tell me about – there is so much here! I hope to reflect just a few of these in my blog and share some of the hidden histories of The National Archives with you.

Mon May

2013

Too young to cross the road

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

‘Too young to cross the road, we were deported to the other side of the world to cold, cruel institutions. We were robbed of our identities, our dignity and our families. Our parents lost their children.’

International Association of Former Child Migrants and Their Families ¹

A boy ploughing at Dr. Barnardo's Industrial Farm, Russell, Manitoba, c. 1900. CC Source: www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/022/f1/a117285.jpg

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, around 80,000 children were sent abroad to Canada to work as labourers or domestic servants. They were children of poor families, some were orphans, but by no means all, most under the age of 14.

They were sent by various charitable organisations including Thomas Barnado’s, keen to ‘solve’ the problem of pauper children in Britain without necessarily implementing social change back home. Continue reading »

Notes:

1. www.britainschildmigrants.com ^

Wed Mar

2013

Marvellous March Mash-up!

Posted by Jenni Orme in Behind the scenes, Records and research

“Come Mek Wi Dig Out Dem Roots!” was the enthusiastic cry as Sharon Tomlin, a Caribbean family historian, took to the stage at the March Mash-up at The National Archives this week.

The event was a celebration of various projects that have been running as part of the Caribbean through a lens Outreach project over the past year.

‘Caribbean through a lens’, led by my colleagues Sandra Shakespeare and Sara Griffiths, is part of the wider Through a lens photograph project that has released Colonial Office images online over the past few years. The Caribbean collection has had particular focus from the Outreach team, working with Caribbean communities across the country in response to the images - evoking memories and re-interpreting and re-using the information in their own way.

One of the popular images from the Caribbean collection. INF 10/39/10 Barbados 1950-1968

Wed Feb

2013

Fancy a chat?

Posted by Jenni Orme in Behind the scenes, Records and research

Looking back over our blogs from the past year, there are many examples of how we are working hard at The National Archives to make our records as accessible as possible, whether it be through cataloguing, digitisation, outreach or research. This includes our advice service – you could have the most fantastic documents in the world, but they’re not much good if you can’t find them!

Live Chat is accessible through our website

Thanks largely to digitisation projects, our audience is now global and ever-expanding. In order to keep up with this, approximately a year ago we began trialling a new Live Chat service. This service is now part of our daily advice service from 11:00-15:00 GMT, allowing users anywhere in the world with access to the internet to connect with our advisers instantly.

As one of the ‘chatters’, Live Chat is one of the varied public duties I undertake each week. It is a great combination of the immediacy of a phonecall and the useful links that can be sent over email. It allows us to instantly point users to relevant parts of our website and know they are looking at the right page – a far cry from explaining step by step over the phone, or even by letter. Continue reading »

Fri Feb

2013

Claiming, celebrating, creating!

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

“Claiming our history, celebrating our past, creating our future!” is the motto of LGBT history month which begins today.

LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) history has been in focus at The National Archives for a while now and we have many things going on to contribute to the aim above, and encourage future research in the area.

The rainbow of LGBT can be found in many archives and libraries. Source: www.flickr.com/photos/bluemarla/229631339/in/set-72157608188767044/

Today sees the re-launch of our Gay and Lesbian history research guide which has been updated and streamlined to make it more user-friendly for those starting out in their research. It suggests a number of areas where users may wish to begin, but also, importantly, it suggests historical terminology to use in our online catalogue.

Sun Jan

2013

Ripablik blong Vanuatu

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

In 1960, the Lopevi volcano erupted in Vanuatu (then the New Hebrides), a small group of islands in the South Pacific.

During the eruption, photographs were taken of the steam rising from the sea where the lava spilled in:

'Steam caused by lava flowing into the sea at Lopevi during the eruption of July 1960' - Reece Discombe. CO 1069/671

Fri Jan

2013

In Flickr’s page, let every stage, Advance Australia Fair…

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

'Tekasua, Rennell Island, British Solomons', 1935, CO 1069/660

The characters and landscapes of Australasia are the subjects of the latest ‘Through a lens’ online release today – timed perfectly for Australia Day tomorrow.

From Darwin to Tasmania, Perth to Brisbane, the people, places and projects of Australia from the 1860s to 1960s are represented in the collection, alongside smaller collections showing New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, Tonga, Vanuatu and other Pacific islands.

The photographs are part of the Colonial Office collection that we have been releasing online through Flickr since 2011. In September last year I wrote about the release of the Asia collection, and the diversity shown in the Australasia photographs is just as apparent. There are, for example, beautiful images of landscapes, of the construction of Sydney Harbour Bridge, and even the All Blacks team from 1953-54. Continue reading »

Fri Jan

2013

New Year, New… research topic

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

Happy New Year!

So, the time is upon us once again – adverts everywhere for the latest celebrity diet, queues to sign up at the gym and playing ‘dodge the jogger’ in Richmond Park – yes, it’s the cycle of ‘New Year, New You’ repeating once again.

I admit I am guilty of the same – my desk is piled with ambitious mountains of fruit and I am determinedly marching up stairs, glancing longingly at the lifts…

As we well know, this annual dive in to health and fitness is nothing new, and I have been searching for records that reflect this.

The idea came from one of my favourite images in the collection – ‘Lady cyclists riding down a hill’.

'Photograph group, lady cyclists riding down hill, (Sittingbourne)' COPY 1/435/62

Taken in 1898, the photograph appears in COPY 1, the original application forms for the registration of copyright at Stationers’ Hall. It is registered by Frederick Miller Ramell of Sittingbourne.

Fri Nov

2012

BSL in bloom

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

Usually when I sit down to write a blog post, I begin by reflecting on the projects and work I have been involved in recently, to share the discoveries and events along the way.

This week however, I was inspired by another blogger – Claire Newing – and her post on ‘Disability in the UK Government Web Archive’ on Wednesday. Claire talked about the various ways website design is geared towards providing additional assistance to those that need it. This made me think of the British Sign Language (BSL) video podcasts available on our media player that deserve highlighting.

‘Introduction to Family History – British Sign Language video’ podcast

According to Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID), there are an estimated 9 million people in the UK who are deaf or hard of hearing, and a number of our users both online and in person may need assistance due to this. We have hearing aid loops in our Reading Rooms and staff trained in BSL to assist people onsite. Our podcast series is designed to share our collections more widely offsite, and using BSL interpreters on some of them means this can be as inclusive as possible.

Mon Oct

2012

Reaching out – Ugandan Asians 40 years on

Posted by Jenni Orme in Records and research

In August 1972, Idi Amin, the leader of Uganda, gave the order that Asian people living in Uganda had 90 days to leave the country.

This triggered the mass movement of almost 80,000 Ugandan Asians, seeking refuge in countries all over the world. Boarding planes, most could only take what they could carry or were permitted to carry. Just over 28,000 came to Britain to start new lives, often leaving family, friends, businesses and possessions behind.

This month our Outreach team, led by my colleague Yasmeen Haji, organised a day to reflect, remember and at times celebrate the lives and experiences of those who left Uganda for Britain. Around 100 people from the British Ugandan Asian community came to The National Archives for a day to take part in cultural workshops, discussions and performances to mark the events of 40 years ago.

The National Archives holds many documents relating to this turbulent period in Ugandan history and the lives of those forced to leave. We wanted to share these records with those who experienced it firsthand and hear their memories.

A document display where participants shared memories

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