Nottinghamshire's People: Ancestral Stories from the Archives
This exhibition ran between the 7 June and 1 September 2013.
'Nottinghamshire's People' was jointly curated by staff from Nottinghamshire Archives and Manuscripts and Special Collections at The University of Nottingham.
Tracing ancestors has proved a fascinating challenge for generations. Some researchers have sought evidence to establish a claim to a title, but increasing numbers pursue family history as a hobby, and want to know more about the lives and times of their forebears. Publications and television programmes such as 'Who Do You Think You Are?' show how a family’s past experience can powerfully resonate with an individual’s life today. Whether your ancestors were humble agricultural labourers, local dignitaries or incorrigible criminals, they all have a story to tell.
Family historians today can draw on rich internet resources, but ‘Nottinghamshire’s People: Ancestral Stories from the Archives’ showcased the original documents that provide the evidence for ancestral research. Through church records, private papers, maps, wills and many other sources, it uncovered the rich world that lies beyond the indexes of census and birth, marriage and death records.
Exhibition themes
The exhibition boards which were displayed in the Weston Gallery are available to download in pdf format.
Most of the exhibition boards were 'case studies' of notable Nottinghamshire residents, showing the range of documents that could be used to build up a picture of a person's life. The final board explored what resources are not available to researchers online.
- Finding Nottinghamshire’s People: Tracing your Story in the Archives
- Lucy Hutchinson (1620—1681); seventeenth-century biographer and poet
- Mary Howitt (1799—1888); a writer and her family
- George Africanus (1763—1834); slave, freeman and Nottingham citizen
- William Mompesson (1639—1709); a clerical life
- The Pelham-Clinton Dukes of Newcastle (1639—1709); an aristocratic lineage
- Beyond the Internet
Unfortunately it is not possible to display representations of the original archive material which featured in the exhibition cases.
Visitor comments
Wonderful collection thank you for a glimpse.
Beautifully presented and v. interesting.
My children aged 12 and 8 loved being in here.
Fascinating exhibition – well put together.
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