• The Larger Dumpy Books for Children: Holidays and Happy Days’

    Celebrating All Hallows’ Eve, the twentieth century way

    All Hallows’ Eve will soon be upon us and, as fate would have it, we recently stumbled upon the subject in a book from our archives. Published in 1901, the following extract from ‘The Larger Dumpy Books for Children: Holidays and Happy Days’ gives us a fascinating insight into a long-forgotten tradition, and how the…

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  • Nina's wedding

    Fashion in photos

    Family photographs are a great source of information about the fashions of the time. Archive volunteer Paula has been delving into some Nettlefold photographs – and her research has turned up some fascinating finds about the dress and style of twentieth-century women. We are lucky to have lovely photographs of two Nettlefold family weddings. The…

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  • Gentiana verna, Harold Stuart Thompson, 1903

    Object of the Month: Lucy of Teesdale

    This month I am cheating and choosing three objects for the price of one!  Since we took responsibility for the University Herbarium a couple of years ago, we have constantly been unearthing new treasures.  The archive volunteers have been working on two collections of objects which came to us with the Herbarium – a box…

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  • A picnic set up with bread, cheese and fruit
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    The Great British Picnic

    Summer has finally joined us and what better summer activity than going for a picnic? But did you know where the tradition of picnics came from? As I watched the skies darkening last Sunday I was hastily doing a mental note of how many family members I could fit round the dining room table to…

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  • A draft section of the frieze by Sarah Moss
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    The animals went in two by two

    An exciting project is taking place the Winterbourne nursery! Sarah Moss, an artist who has had a long association with Winterbourne, is painting a frieze which will extend all the way around the beautiful room in which the Nettlefold children played over a hundred years ago.   A draft section of the frieze by Sarah Moss…

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