On 31 March 1990 over 100,000 people attended an anti-poll tax march in London. The protest resulted in over 400 arrests and 113 people being injured. Papers from the All Britain Anti-Poll Tax Federation can be found in our papers from The Socialist Party. mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/MIL/5

New 1926 General Strike map online! Using early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps, the online resource shows strike events (through archive sources) in their contemporary landscape. Explore the map, digitised sources and more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

'Innocence outraged' #WorldTheatreDay The Bristol Unity Players' Club developed from workers' amateur dramatics clubs in the early 1930s. The club co-operated with left wing organisations, including the Left Book Club's Theatre Guild and London Unity Theatre. mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/BUP

'Dole Not Coal' The effects of the 1984/5 Miners' Strike are still felt in former coalfield communities Campaign material from the dispute, including leaflets, pamphlets and other publicity material produced by community groups and the NUM, is online at cdm21047.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

We are delighted to be able to offer small grants to support exciting research!

1909: Bermondsey women stop work and stare down the photographer Women workers in the soldering section of Peek Freans' factory, making boxes for biscuits More on the often dangerous work of tin box makers in our 'sweated trades' digitised collection at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

We’re delighted to welcome @blmedieval.bsky.social to Bluesky 👋 Follow for fascinating insights into medieval manuscripts, music, and history from the British Library’s collections.

We're enjoying seeing how @rwldproject.bsky.social draws stories (and broader social history) from the union membership records at the MRC...

'Beer on Board' During the Second World War military minds turned to the problem of beer. The MRC's Rachel MacGregor @anoldhand.bsky.social writes on the Allies' plans to launch a floating brewery, as well as Anglo-American tensions over warm beer / chilled lager, at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

We maintain that there is NO SUCH THING as a boring record - just an archive that hasn't yet found its (probably very niche) researcher 📜

Reporting the General Strike We're looking ahead to May! As the centenary of Britain's 'Great Hold-Up' approaches, we've added more sources to our General Strike digitised collection 550+ strike bulletins, leaflets, reports, radio transcripts and more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Aspiring to be 'In Loveliness Again' In 1932 Manchester's Milton Hall played host to celebrity cyclist Neville Whall (alias Hodites) as he recalled his "latest and greatest" tour of the Lake District Local lantern lectures - sporting, political & more - could draw in the early 20th century crowds

The Modern Record Centre has a wide variety of material to bring history to life and inspire students. #SchoolArchivesDay Here's some we prepared earlier.... warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

Incoming 3-2-1... Our new exhibition on Weimar Cinema is installed! Find out more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

The fear of new technology (and Daleks) is nothing new.... #NewTechnology #Daleks #Computers

Born #OTD 1881, Ernest Bevin was one of the founding leaders of the Transport & General Workers' Union & Labour Foreign Secretary between 1945-51 His TGWU General Secretary archives are at the MRC (transferred 50 years ago this year!) - browse the catalogue at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/EBE

On the 3rd of March, the MRC teamed up with several Faculty of Arts departments for the Set the Pace Showcase, a celebration of the University of Warwick's largest philanthropic campaign yet. #MRC #ModernRecordsCentre #SpecialCollections #Archives #Philanthropy #UniversityOfWarwick #SetThePace

A timely find in the archives of NUM Secretary Peter Heathfield! In 1990 the National Union of Mineworkers gave financial support to the newly formed British Paralympic Association. 'Disability sport' had strong mining links, with competitive events a key part of coal industry welfare provision.

On #WorldBookDay we give you 'The Sportfolio' the gift that keeps on giving......for Bluesky posts anyway. This gem features "Portraits and Biographies of Heroes and Heroines of Sport & Pastime, 1896" and can be viewed online. mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/CTC/...

The Section for Archives and Museums @araarchmus.bsky.social has produced a Glossary of terminology commonly used across the Archives and Museum sectors in the UK & Ireland. Find out more and check out the glossary: www.archives.org.uk/sam-glossary

'Africa says no'... 'Campaign against this nuclear madness' In 1959 the anti-nuclear and anti-colonial movements combined in London to oppose French nuclear tests planned for the Algerian Sahara. The first tests took place in 1960 - during the Algerian war of independence against France.

This is a great photo! Cradley Heath women did a range of heavy industrial work in the early 20th century. Digitised sources about the Cradley Heath chainmakers and their fight for better conditions is at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib... ⛓️

Consider submitting a proposal for this upcoming hybrid conference on Archives and Ethics! Experts from all fields are welcome! padlet.com/dturner2_23/... @astonuniversity.bsky.social @astonpress.bsky.social

New exhibition at the MRC! Weimar Cinema from 1919-1933, showcasing items from the Illustrierter Film-Kurier collection. Illustrated programmes for early cinema classics, international hits and films which reflected social and political ideas of the Weimar era.

We've been enjoying looking at the range of archives being used by students for their research Themed searches of our catalogue can be a quick shortcut to find sources on popular subjects - warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

⛏️ 42 years ago, just a few weeks before the miners’ strike began, photographer Bruce Rae visited Easington, asking what it meant for a place to be so closely tied to coal - capturing a portrait of a community on the edge of unprecedented upheaval. 🔗 See more: sidegallery.co.uk/collectio...

Get ready for Spring with the 'Ladies' Rational Dress'. #HelloSpring #SpringVibes #SpringStyle Any excuse for 'The Lady Cyclist' to buy a new outfit. This handy "Double Spring Fashion Issue" will see you through the season.

"Miss Ross... This with her papers etc." Context is key with archives and, by itself, this image raises lots of questions with few certain answers. Who was the dapper Miss Ross of Dornoch? Was this a cycling disguise to avoid undue attention, one-off fancy dress, or a deeper part of her identity?

Fighting Fit In The Factory Home Front health at the forefront in these striking #WW2 posters, featuring engineering workers striking heroic poses #histmed The wartime ephemera was preserved in the archives of the British Employers' Confederation (mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/BEC/...)

Struggles, Strikes, Solidarity 5 Mar: Join @cathyhunt.bsky.social for a fascinating talk that examines the challenges faced by women workers and the extraordinary efforts to organise them into an all-women trade union, led by the charismatic Mary Macarthur @womenshistnet.bsky.social

Industrial health and welfare The first documents in our new digitised collection are online! It includes sources from the National Union of Mineworkers' archive relating to workplace dangers and campaigns to improve safety & welfare at work. More to come... wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...

Entries are invited for the Labour History Review postgraduate essay prize. The deadline for entries is 30 June 2026 (Please share widely) sslh.org.uk/2026/02/19/l...

Looking forward to welcoming the successful candidate! Excellent opportunity to work with the Release archives at the MRC and look in detail at the history of drugs, counter-culture and campaign groups in the British system

Fragments of First World War lives Trade union journals often carried photos & reports of comrades in arms - the serving, the rewarded, the missing, wounded & dead The hope for news shines through in the profiles of the missing Browse the Postmen's Gazette & more at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

🚨 New Bluesky account 🎉 Dr Dee, Shakespeare & the oldest public library in the UK - we've been enjoying reading @chethamslibrary.bsky.social's blogs on Dr Dee & Shakespeare & looking forward to exploring more from their collections! Looking for more history/library content? Well worth a follow!

Julia Varley, expert flipper of pancakes, was also a suffragette and trade unionist. She was active in the National Federation of Women Workers and the Workers' Union, serving as chief women's officer of the TGWU from 1929 to 1936. #ShroveTuesday #PancakeDay

Match-box makers, c.1906 In 1906 'sweated' (poorly paid) homeworkers were put on public display as part of a 6 week exhibition organised by the Daily News The exhibition handbook included photos of workers (mostly women) in their usual domestic working conditions warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

We'll be there! Looking forward to sharing some of our work with the National Union of Mineworkers archives at #HAP26 and catching up with other projects which have communities at the core!

I talked urban history, history of war, and critical disaster studies on the great Warwick History Hour podcast; another excellent project run by our fantastic students. Give it a listen and subscribe! 🗃️ 👇👇👇 open.spotify.com/episode/7kB8...

'Beware of Wireless!'... 'Fear of Oscillation'... The 1926 General Strike triggered debates over misinformation and media control. On the first day, TUC newspaper The Daily Herald warned against government control of media and suggested ways of interfering with the radio signal... #WorldRadioDay

🚨 New Bluesky archive account 🚨 Welcome to Chicago's @digitalnewberry.bsky.social ! Some excellent online resources through their digital collections (particularly recommend the vintage postcard sender - combining cats, bicycles and women's rights!)

Discover everything that the common European data space for cultural heritage has to offer - from rich data to a thriving community and a wide range of tools, products and events. Explore the data space: www.dataspace-culturalheritage.eu

What's the most random thing you've seen in an archive? These images from the Shipping Federation can be found between other miscellaneous drawings and illustrations, including maps of the Thames and plans for offices. Find out more through our catalogue at mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/TSF/...

As ever, when sport is underway, we turn to the expertise of Sportfolio for that peak period in the 1890s when moustaches and sporting endeavour combined London skaters Hiam & Syers struck a pose in 1896, "despite...our climate" & the routine absence of snow mrc-describe.epexio.com/records/CTC/...

We've been enjoying seeing some of the ways in which @rememberlop.bsky.social overlaps with our collections! The National Union of Mineworkers archive covers the Jersey jaunt, including three files kept by Arthur Scargill, then Yorkshire Area President ( mrc-describe.epexio.com/search/all:r... )

A chain of memory - 2026-1976-1945 50 years ago 'Gladrag', magazine of Birmingham Gay Liberation Front, looked at 'Gays and Fascism'. The last of the Nazi concentration camps had been liberated 31 years earlier. The aims & context of Gay Lib - for the L, G & T - were set out inside. #LGBTplusHM

We're looking to capture experiences of what it means to be queer in the UK today! To do that we're collecting day diaries for 12th February. It doesn't matter what you get up to, or how you record it, we'd love to have it!🧵 (1/4) #LGBTplusHM #lgbthm26

Another new archive account on Bluesky! 🎉 The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine has some fantastic archive / library collections - looking to finding out more through @lshtm-laors.bsky.social ...

"The first time that the housewife has been considered as a person contributing to the community" In 1943 the YWCA assessed how the proposals of the Beveridge Report would affect women - in paid and unpaid work. More sources on Beveridge & the British welfare state at warwick.ac.uk/services/lib...

As the General Strike centenary gets closer, we've been boosting our digitised content! 560 original documents have now been digitised & are free to access, including strike bulletins, radio transcripts, union communications & more... #GeneralStrike100 cdm21047.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...