Hunting Down History

I suppose there is something of the hunter-gatherer in all of us. Some people like to hunt foxes, with others it's truffles. With me, it's digital archives. The pleasure that the stag hunter probably gets when he sights a  mature hart in the cross-hairs, I get when I find a new digital archive. And the adrenaline coursed through my clerkish veins this morning when I discovered British History Online. To quote the website : "British History Online is the digital library containing some of the core printed primary and secondary sources for the medieval and modern history of the British Isles. Created by the Institute of Historical Research and the History of Parliament Trust, we aim to support academic and personal users around the world in their learning, teaching and research". If that sounds boring take a look at some of the titles which have been added recently : things like the complete series of the Calendar of Treasury Books and Papers and  the complete series of the Calendar of Spanish State Papers. But pick a collection at random, pick a volume at random and pick a date at random and dip in : absolutely fascinating.

My dip took me into the digital collection of the State Papers of Venice for the period 1202 to 1675. The 38 volumes cover relations between the Venetian State and England and they are, I am glad to say, available in English translation. In the main they cover official reports and letters from Venetian diplomats and these provide a wonderful sidelight on English and European history. Here are a couple of illustrations from the records of 1649. They are taken from the texts of diplomatic reports which have been sent to the Venetian Doge and Senate: 

Alvise Contarini, Venetian Ambassador to the Congress of Munster, to the Doge and Senate : 19th February, 1649.

The king of England has on three different days been taken before the judges appointed by the military for his trial. They omitted to read a letter presented by the French ambassador, and both his guards and judges treated him throughout as a private individual, never taking off their hats or paying him any kind of mark of homage or respect. He took exception to the judges as having no authority over their sovereign, without whom and still less without the concurrence of the House of Lords they could not pretend to any form of parliament ; nor did he make any other reply to the charges which were read to him. They took four days for consultation, in order to pass sentence without admitting further defence.....

Alvise Contarini, Venetian Ambassador at Munster, to the Doge and Senate : 26 February 1649

The poor king of England has at last lost both crown and life by the hand of the executioner, like a common criminal, in London, before all the people, without any one speaking in his favour and by the judicial sentence of his own subjects. The accompanying narrative gives the particulars. History affords no example of the like. It is a shame to all contemporary sovereigns, who for the sake of revenge against each other about trifles have allowed themselves to be confronted by so imposing a spectacle, of the worst possible example. ....

Wonderful stuff. Hunting at its very best. And without any cruelty to animals. Now Kings, that's another matter.

Charge of the Light Brigade

So where did you go over the Bank Holiday weekend? Blackpool for the day? Alton Towers? For a walk in the park? Well I went to the Danish Museum of Electricity, so there! Well, actually, I virtually went there which is not quite the same, but when you are stuck inside updating the Marsden Jazz Festival website you have to make do with whatever you can get. From what I virtually saw it looks like a fun place, the kind of destination that would occupy many a damp Bank Holiday afternoon. And if you don't want to travel to Denmark, the museum's interactive, user-friendly, and information-packed website is almost just as good. When you enter the site (this is the website we are talking about) you are faced with two alternatives. The first is entitled - for reasons probably lost in translation - the energy and fun picnic and is organised according to age group. Thus by clicking on the picture of a young child you get child-friendly exhibits and by clicking on the picture of the old wrinkly you get loads of stuff about the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. Quite a clever idea actually.

The second alternative takes you to what is called the "Knowledge Hub" where information is grouped by topic. From here there are links to sections dealing with electricity production, thunder and lightening, nuclear energy, hydrogen fuel cells and many similar topics. You can happily browse your way along the virtual corridors and stop off and look at some of the special exhibitions (I can heartily recommend the "Ignition - Currents of Modernism Around 1900" Exhibition).

Thanks to the Danish Electricity Museum I had an informative and entertaining Bank Holiday day out. For that reason it becomes my digital resource of the week.

It's The Wonder Of Woolworths

"Troubled retailer Woolworths says it has rejected a bid for its network of 815 stores, calling it "unacceptable". Woolworths confirmed reports that the boss of the Iceland frozen food chain, Malcolm Walker, had made an offer to buy its retail division". BBC 17 August 2008.

The headline popped up on my Google Reader screen as I was putting together a short post in my "Digital Resources" series. And the subject of my posting - The Woolworths Virtual Museum. If you are of a particular age (and I am of a particular age) then FW Woolworths will have a place in your psyche : a place that modern retailers such as TESCO and ASDA could never aspire to. The local Woolworths store was our entry to the consumer society, our aspirational warehouse, our shrine to Mammon. Can we ever forget the feeling of the coins in our sweaty palms as we entered through those swing doors and went in search of "Pick and Mix" sweets, plastic pencil sharpeners, Airfix model kits, or the latest 45 records. There was a certain smell, a certain feel, a certain style about Woolworths which was the same whether you were in Halifax or Hampstead, Leeds or Leicester.

You can recapture some of that "feel" at the wonderful Woolworths Virtual Museum which is my digital resource choice for this week. It provides a digital "peep" inside a variety of British Woolworth stores chosen from the last 100 years. You can wander around the galleries and examine photographs and even video clips : based upon either particular decades or particular groups of products. So, for example, you can stroll through a Stationery Department from the early 1960s (my own particular favourite) or a Homewares Department of the 1920s.

I have not set foot in a Woolworths shop for ages, but I am certain they will be well worth a visit. Their virtual museum certainly is. But if the news reports are right, you better get in there quick.