A small yellow Tinytag sitting on a box on a shelf in one of our strongrooms

A Tinytag hidden on a shelf in a rolling stack in our strongroom

Our Conservator has recently hidden 12 ‘Tinytag’ data loggers in our strongrooms and inside boxes. They record temperature and relative humidity, data which is then used to inform changes to the environment to help protect the collections.

Each Tinytag also needs a name! Any ideas?

#ArchiveStorage

Football team of ten women workers in Banbury

It's April which means it's #Archive30!

For today’s #SportArchives we love this football team photograph of women workers in Banbury from 1917

Female munitions factory workers during WW1 were encouraged to take part in sports to improve their health in the midst of long hours and hard work

The clocks go forward this Sunday. One of the more unusual tasks for one of our archivists is adjusting the two on our tower. It involves climbing several flights of stairs and a ladder - fortunately, the others in our building require much less effort!

Spotted outside our conservation studio!

Not one of our regulars… but to be fair to Mr/Ms Fox our website does say we have a café selling a small selection of hot and cold drinks.

#EYAWildlife

A reminder that this vacancy is closing on Monday. Please forward to anyone who might be interested!

Screenshot of the new Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions name index

A bundle of Quarter Sessions rolls

Was your ancestor a criminal?!

We’ve recently added an Oxfordshire Quarter Sessions name index for 1687-1830 to Heritage Search (not including Oxford City). One of the Quarter Sessions' roles was to deal with criminal cases including theft and assault.

heritagesearch.oxfordshire.gov.uk/indexes/qs

Just a little reminder that this exhibition starts today at the Westgate Library in Oxford

Photograph of an unidentified building

We have a mystery we hope someone can solve! 🕵 Does this building look familiar to you? We believe it could be somewhere in North Berkshire or maybe even Oxfordshire. Let us know in the comments if you recognise it!

This is Felicia Skene (1821-1899), a pioneer social worker who supported Oxford's homeless and women fleeing sex work. She became the first female visitor allowed into prisons in England and advocated for prisons to be places of reform instead of punishment.

#IWD2026 #GiveToGain

History Service Manager | 23 March, 2026 | Jobs and careers with Oxfordshire County Council Jobs and careers with Oxfordshire County Council - About Us Oxfordshire History Service is responsible for archive and local studies provision for the county of Oxfordshire. The service collects, pres...

We are hiring! 🎉

We are seeking to appoint to our History Service Manager role on a permanent basis following an upcoming retirement. For further details, please see the following link:

careers.oxfordshire.gov.uk/jobs/job/His...

Closing date: Monday 23rd March
Interview date: Friday 1st May

This fascinating (and free!) exhibition commemorating the men from South Oxford who died in WW2 will be at the Westgate Library, Oxford from 12-30th March

It builds on last year’s popular exhibition '24 Men of Grandpont and Cold Harbour 1939-45' by including new research on the men from New Hinksey

Robert Boyle's portrait

The plaque commemorating the residence of Robert Boyle at University College, Oxford

This is Robert Boyle (1627-1691), an Anglo-Irish chemist and one of the historical figures highlighted this year as part of LGBT+ History Month which is celebrating LGBT+ people in Science and Innovation. He lived and worked in Oxford for 13 years and was a founder of modern chemistry

#LGBTplusHM

The marriage certificate of John Price and Hannah Fowler

A zoomed in section of the marriage certificate which shows the names of the 68 witnesses

On this day in February 1793, a John Price and Hannah Fowler were married in a Quaker ceremony in Chipping Norton. The marriage certificate contains a whopping 68 signatures of persons witnessing the marriage!

Team group portrait of Oxford University Ice Hockey Club taken at Oxford Ice Skating Rink

Today the 2026 Winter Olympics begins! ⛷️🏂

This team portrait of Oxford University Ice Hockey Club was taken at Oxford Ice Skating Rink, Botley Road c. 1930-1934. The ice rink opened in November 1930, but the building later became a cinema, war evacuee hostel and a Frank Cooper Ltd marmalade factory

New boxes piled high in the search room during our box delivery

Plans laid out in the conservation studio

Our search room desks taken over with various collections projects

Our 2026 stocktake is already a week in. Wonder what we're up to?

So far we’ve had a box delivery, taken over the search room with various projects, completed Incident Plan and Collections Handling refresher training, tidied the strongrooms, re-boxed Estate collections and had many meetings! Phew!

Private Scanes of Witney being hugged around the leg by 'Winnie' the black bear cub

It's #NationalHugDay

This photo in the 9th Feb 1916 Oxford Journal Illustrated shows Private Scanes of Witney with the Canadian Force's pet bear 'Winnie'. She was named after her owner's hometown, Winnipeg and later lived at London Zoo where she became the inspiration for AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh

Poster for the exhibition providing details, including that it is held in the 'Old Cloakroom' at the Museum of Oxford and entrance is free. The exhibition runs until 21st March 2026.

Display cabinet at the exhibition including a copy of the Royal Charter of the 'Warneford Lunatic Asylum' dated 28th April 1849

An engraving of the 'Radcliffe Asylum' as it was known when it was opened in 1826 on Headington Hill

A special exhibition has launched this week at the Museum of Oxford as part of a programme of events to commemorate 200 years of Warneford Hospital. This free exhibition explores how mental health care has evolved in Oxfordshire over two centuries. Find the project's website here: warneford200.co.uk

Love this! Quite the multifunctional item.

Skaters on Pool Meadow, Chipping Norton 100 years ago in January 1926.

Originally a medieval pond built to supply Chipping Norton castle with fresh fish, Pool Meadow later became a swimming pool and ice rink from the Victorian era until the late 1940s.

That broom... snow sweeping or ice hockey?!

ANNUAL STOCKTAKING CLOSURE

Oxfordshire History Centre will close to visitors at 4.30pm on Thursday 22nd January and will re-open at 9.30am on Tuesday 10th February.

Our remote enquiry service will continue as usual during this fortnight.

It's National Balloon Ascension Day

This balloon flight in 1984 from Christ Church Meadow marked the 200th anniversary of James Sadler's balloon ascent on 4th October 1784, a pastry chef in Oxford who became the second person in England to do a balloon ascent.

Let's hope his doughs rose well too.

Happy New Year followers!
Snowy St Luke’s this morning. We are open to visitors today but please take care when travelling.

An elf collecting document request slips

Elves in the strongrooms

Elves using the rolling stacks

An elf searching for a book in the strongroom

On #ArchiveAdventCalendar we're up to #ArchiveElves – and we’ve had a couple of seasonal assistants ‘helping’ us with document productions from the strongrooms this month..!

As part of Cowley Christmas Festival, 5 mini #Christmas trees are travelling around community spaces in Oxford's #Cowley. Here is Cowley Library delivering our one yesterday, and tomorrow it will move onto #Oxford City Farm. St James Church's carol service on Sunday will be their final destination!

Christmas and New Year Closure Dates! 🎄🎁

The History Centre will close at 4.30pm on Wednesday 24 December. We will re-open at 9.30am on Saturday 3 January.

Instead of the usual snowy scenes and robins on #ChristmasCards, how about a cat dressed as a postman? Or beach scenes and donkey rides? And why not a cat framed by a lucky horseshoe?...

...some of our more unusual examples c. late 19th - early 20th century kept by the Herring family of Blackthorn

This year it’s our 90th birthday 🎂 and to celebrate we have recreated the exhibition put together for our Golden Jubilee in 1985, but this time it's online! Filled with collection highlights plus additions that reflect our last 40 years #EYAAnniversaries www.oxfordshirehistory.org.uk/public/exhib...

An image of the adjustable height computer table in the Searchroom.

An image of the wheelchair accessible public areas at Oxfordshire History Centre including reception, the café and disabled toilets.

It's already day 7 of #ExploreYourArchive!

The public areas of our building, including the Searchroom are fully wheelchair accessible and an adjustable height computer table is available. We also ask visitors to tell us if they have any additional special requirements #EYAInclusion

Brown paper packages tied up with strings, these are a few of our favourite things #BoxesAndBows

It’s time for #ArchiveAdventCalendar and we have been practising our Christmas gift wrapping with naughty red tape and nice acid-free tape @arascot.bsky.social

For #EYAMedieval we bring you an illuminated Church manuscript that was re-used c.16th century to bind Whitchurch parish’s ‘Poor Accounts’. After the Reformation, such manuscripts were sometimes given more 'everyday' purposes. Not quite the preservation we'd have suggested but better than the bin...