Tales From The Archives – Bringing History To Life

Archives are about people, their lives and achievements. Perhaps the everyday mundane things they do.

Tales from the Archives, a new exhibition at the Beverley Treasure House, uses people’s stories from documents of the past to bring history to life.

A talk at the Treasure House will tell more about some of the colourful East Riding characters featured in this exhibition.

Susan Neave will tell the story of how she campaigned to become one of the first women ‘freemen’ of Beverley. You will be able to learn more about the stories of Sidney Rippingale, who escaped from a Second World War prisoner of war camp; William Morfitt, a local amateur archaeologist, and the discovery of 10,000 year old harpoons; Snowden Dunhill, who was transported to Australia in the 19th Century, and William Dobson, a 17th Century Hull merchant and merchant adventurer.

Ian Mason, archives manager at the Treasure House, said: “In the exhibition we have tried to give our ‘characters’ a fictional voice. This talk is a great chance to find out more. The stories show how people going about their everyday business can, unknowingly and unwittingly, get pulled into something as wide and sweeping as history.”

The Tales from the Archives Exhibition in the Treasure House runs from 15 February to Saturday, 26 April.

The talk, Tales from the Archives, is in the Education Room on the first floor of the Treasure House on Tuesday, 4 March, at 6.30pm.

Tickets for the talk cost £5 and you can book online at www.eastriding.gov.uk/events, by calling (01482) 392699 or by visiting the Archives Research Room on the ground floor of the Treasure House.