We are one month away from opening our newest exhibition! "Fallen: The Clewer House of Mercy 1848-1954" opens on March 24 2026, and we couldn't be more excited for you to see it. #Exhibition #Fallen

It's been a busy week for Godric, who's been hard at work helping out with document production! Luckily he has his new jumper to keep him warm in the chilly strongrooms! ❄️ 👕

Learn about newly catalogued items at the RBA by reading Feb's Just Catalogued. Lots of additions to existing collections this month including the Wallingford Relief in Need Charity, Broadmoor, and Berkshire (later Berkshire and Oxfordshire) Farmers’ Union

Happy Pancake Day! 🥞 How do you like yours; chocolatey, fruity, syrupy, savoury, or the classic sugar and lemon combination? This author loves some chocolate spread 😋

Happy Chinese New Year! This year is the year of the horse 🐎 In this photograph, it looks like this dog decided to get a better view of the surrounding fields on the back of his pal! It doesn't look like the horse minds too much 😄 📸 D/EZ198/5/3/5

Its World Radio Day! 📻 What better way to celebrate than with this 1930s radio‑gramophone advert - an "exquisite entertainer" guaranteed to charm any room! 📷 D/EX1718/2/26/2

It's National Embroidery month, to celebrate we wanted to re-share Archives Assistant Amber's favourite item, a piece of silver wire embroidery. Watch the video to learn more about the item and why she chose it.

The stories that made us. The decades that defined us 🗞️ Uncover the “good old days” as they really were in 100 million pages of history. Delve deeper into our newspapers for FREE until 16 February. ➡️ https://bit.ly/4r2KB2a

Have you had a chance to read our latest blog post? We sent out "A Surprising Window into the Past" with our February newsletter, read now to find out how a simple school logbook can show us how big events impacted small communities. bit.ly/4toqP2Y

We've got our bone skates and cold weather gear ready for the Winter Olympics! Anyone fancy joining us? 😆 #WinterOlympics #FridayFun

On 14 Feb, join members of Reading Civic Society in the Garden Hall of Watlington House for their AGM, complete with a talk about Jacksons Department store from Thomas Macey. Thomas will bring a selection of original archives to view during and after the talk. buff.ly/XyQK0mh

This month’s highlight takes the saying "take a pew" to a whole new level. Discover the story behind a 17th century pew dispute case in Warfield, and why it still matters today, here: bit.ly/4ayYtdN

It's National Hedgehog Day! 🦔 To celebrate, we found this lovely pamphlet advertising the Berkshire Tame Performing Hedgehog, named Jimmy. He could jump through small hoops and even had a set of bells to play at home. He was also particularly fond of string music! #hedgehog

Today is National Puzzle Day! 🧩 To celebrate we spent some time piecing together this reversible jigsaw puzzle by Foster Brothers Clothing Company Ltd, Wokingham from c.1950s 📷 D/EX2694/1

We've found this photo of the Woodley / Slough train but we're not sure of the year! Any ideas?

Wonder what it's like to work in an archive? Wonder no more. One of our archive assistants has written a blog describing what a typical day at the RBA is like. Have a read to find out more:

Is anyone taking part in the RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch? T W Marshall did his own nature watch during the 1930s. His diaries and notes are housed here and contain a daily log about the weather and natural life he had seen. This includes many birds often accompanied by hand-drawn illustrations.

We're throwing it back to 2016 looking through our office archives. Staff received disaster training, we held a Heritage Open Day event, received a visit from the Anhui Province Local History Compilation Committee Office, and displayed records in the 'Art Angel' installation at Reading prison!

This month's highlight looks at advice given to new mothers in the 1960s. Have a read to see how things have changed (or stayed the same) over the years!

50 years ago today, Agatha Mallowan, better known as Agatha Christie, was buried in the graveyard at St Mary's, Cholsey. The register recording the burial is now held by us. This autumn we will be holding an exhibition celebrating this renowned author and local resident.

Do you recognise any of these views of Reading? They were taken from the top of a water tower in Mill Lane over 100 years ago and show landmarks still identifiable today. 📷 Photography by Mr Lewis taken c. 1900-1903 #FridayFinds

Find out about newly catalogued items at the RBA in this month's Just Catalogued blog: bit.ly/3LDEp1c Then learn more about one of these collections, the papers of Muriel Longhurst, in a blog looking at the Big Freeze of 1963: bit.ly/3NpHx17

'The Berkshire Boy' by Eliza Turck Eliza Turck worked as a painter, miniaturist and illustrator at a time when it could be difficult to work as a female artist. Her paintings were accepted for exhibition at the Royal Academy from 1854 and she continued to exhibit for many years.

We hope everyone has had a relaxing festive period, and with that lots of time in your home with loved ones. Have you looked around the house and wondered how old your house might be, or who else made it a home before you? These are questions we might be able to answer! 🧵

Hello 👋 We've had lots of new followers recently and so we thought we had better reintroduce ourselves! We are the Royal Berkshire Archives and we care for nearly nine hundred years of the County's history! Stick around for posts featuring some of our records and to see our mascot Godric having fun!

During our stock-take period, we got the opportunity to visit the St George's Chapel Archives at Windsor Castle, as well as Berkshire Yeomanry Museum! We want to thank our kind archival colleagues for showing us around and getting out lots of interesting records for us to see.

Welcome to our new followers! Looking for historical inspiration (or distraction)? 150 UK galleries, libraries, archives & museums - all active on Bluesky - are highlighted in this new pack. Excellent and diverse collections, info about online events, heritage snark and more. go.bsky.app/Ms7endH

The second in the series of blogs by students from the University of Reading is live. It's about the Winter Cheese recipe from the Hunter Cookbook: www.royalberkshirearchives.org.uk/blog/homemad... Sign up to our monthly bulletin to have our new blogs sent directly to your inbox: bit.ly/3zGsWUp

Snow day at the RBA! ☃️ It's Godric's first snow, so he had to get outside and see what all the fuss is about ❄️

We are open! 🥳 We re-opened on Friday 2 January, so if there's anything you've been wanting to research over the festive period, please do book a visit 😊

Happy New Year from all of us at the Royal Berkshire Archives! 🎊 We are still closed but will reopen at 9am tomorrow 2 Jan 2026. If you contacted us when we were closed, please bear with us as we are likely to have many enquiries to process.

We hope you had a lovely Christmas & are looking forward to seeing in the New Year. Don't forget that we are closed & will reopen at 9am on Fri 2 Jan 2026. Please do not visit us or expect a reply to an enquiry until after we reopen. Thank you!

It is nice to see that #Santa found time in his busy schedule to visit the nurses at Newbury District Hospital in 1964! #ArchiveAdventCalendar

The Royal Berkshire Archives is now closed for the Christmas and New Year period. We will reopen at 9am on Friday 2 January when we will begin to process enquiries received over the break. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

We can only imagine the joys that lay behind this entrance to the Grand Christmas Show at Reading's Wellsteeds department store in 1950. 'Fun in the Frozen North' suggests a #WinterWonderland and we know it featured Father Christmas himself! #ArchiveAdventCalendar

Have you been #NaughtyOrNice this year? The folks in this Reading Prison Admissions register were probably put on the naughty list! While no one was arrested on Christmas Day, this register shows some admissions on Christmas Eve and Boxing Day, 1889. 📷 P/RP1/1/1 #ArchiveAdventCalendar

Is going to see the pantomime one of your #FestiveTraditions? You can learn more about the history of pantomime and a production of Dick Whittington by Wokingham Theatre on our new highlight: bit.ly/4p2TdE5 Oh yes you can! #ArchiveAdventCalendar

As the weather outside is frightful, and the #WarmFire is so delightful, why not kick you feet up and read our newest blog, written by undergraduates from the University of Reading? 🔥 www.royalberkshirearchives.org.uk/blog/georgia... #ArchiveAdventCalendar

It's #ChristmasParty time! These partygoers all seemed to be having a cheerful time at a children's Christmas party for the Reading Welsh Society. We love all the decorations as well 🎄

Godric’s called on a festive friend to help us out in the office! Watch to see what our #ArchiveElves have been up to… www.youtube.com/shorts/XZPTc... #ArchiveAdventCalendar Music: Christmas by SigmaMusicArt used under the Pixabay Content License

Godric and his festive guest (tune in tomorrow to find out more!) have been raiding the archive for #ChristmasColours. They found items like a staple remover, a catalogue, some books from our library and even the sign for our Enquiries desk! #ArchiveAdventCalendar

In the personal papers of Muriel Longhurst of Wokingham we hold information on her bellringing hobby including details of her farewell #Bells in 1966. #ArchiveAdventCalendar

Need inspiration for your gift wrapping? Here are some #WrappingPaper samples from a Shaw-cum-Donnington Women's Institute scrap book dated 1965. #ArchiveAdventCalendar

We're using the #ArchiveAdventCalendar theme of #Decorations to tell you about one of our stocktake tasks. Our exhibition and meeting room space received a fresh coat of paint from willing staff decorators over the two-week closure and is all the brighter for it.

Has everyone finished their Christmas #Shopping? We found these lovely adverts for Christmas presents in the Berkshire Chronicle, December 6th and 20th editions, 1902, including one for Heelas! They make us want to make a big mug of cocoa ☕ 🍫 #ArchiveAdventCalendar

We love a festive fairy! Discover the story of Muriel Kathleen Sydenham, the young girl photographed here at a children’s fancy dress ball at Reading Town Hall in 1892 in our two part blog. The first blog shares her early life and the second looks at her WW1 story: bit.ly/3XBpzuB #FestiveClothes

We think these #DarkNights make our Christmas tree look rather lovely and glowy! 🎄 This evening is our last late opening of the year. Give us a call or email today if you would like to pop in. #ArchiveAdventCalendar #EYASparkle

How's your Christmas card writing going? We like the approach of this Christmas card from the Sellwood collection, part of our Windsor Borough collection. It features a festive greeting and pop-up Christmas scene with no writing required! #ChristmasCards #ArchiveAdventCalendar

This month’s Just Catalogued blog looks at church records. As well as parish records, there are newly available nonconformist records too. Find out more in our latest blog in the series: royalberkshirearchives.org.uk/blog/just-ca...