Search the blog

This week at The Archive we have added 84,920 brand new pages from both North and South, spanning over one hundred years of headlines. Not only this, we are delighted to welcome five brand new titles to our collection, from Warwickshire to Yorkshire, from Durham to Kent.So read on to discover more about these new titles, to learn which of our seven existing titles we have also updated this week, and to find out more about the Christmas presents of…

Imbued with Christian symbolism and yet born out of pagan tradition, the Christmas tree is an integral part of Christmas celebrations across the world. With between six and eight million real Christmas trees now sold in the United Kingdom alone, it is hard to think of a time when it was a new and exotic Continental import.In this special blog, using articles from the British Newspaper Archive, we will take a look at the history of the Christmas tree,…

This week we have added 48,988 pages to The Archive, with new pages covering both England and Scotland. We’re delighted to have updated four of our Scottish titles, with additions spanning the years between 1879 to 1981. We’ve also updated the Newcastle Journal, the Manchester Evening News, the Lichfield Mercury, the Wells Journal, and finally the Reading Evening Post.One of our Scottish titles to be updated this week is the Aberdeen Evening Express, to which we have added the years 1939-1945 and 1980-1981.Eighty…

Register today!It is that time of the year.  The trees have been decorated, the lights strung up around the windows, nativity scenes assembled, and stockings hung (by the chimney with care).  It also means that it is time to start planning your Christmas dinner.  For many of us, that means making travel arrangements, but for the hosts of these pivotal dinners, it means creating an efficient plan, ordering the turkey, picking the best vegetables, and food preparation.  To help…

With Halloween approaching, we wanted to see what we could find related to the topic of hauntings in The British Newspaper Archive.Of children and hauntingsOften the origins of a haunting myth are rooted in death and loss. Sometimes the myth grows and morphs to such a point where its origin is indeterminate. Other times, the sad truth of its origin is unexpectedly revealed, as with the ‘grim discovery’ at a ‘haunted house’ in 1921, reported in The Scotsman.This…

After watching Sainsbury’s Christmas advert, Kate Cole was inspired to research the real story behind WW1’s Christmas Truce. She used The British Newspaper Archive to unearth the experiences of soldiers on the Western Front in 1914.**************In December 1914, during first year of World War One, a remarkable event known as the Christmas Day Truce occurred in small pockets along the Western Front. 100 years later, one of Britain’s largest grocery shops has released a Christmas advert re-enacting the famous truce.With the…

Today’s most-popular Christmas toys include Frozen dolls and tech gadgets, but it was a very different story 100 years ago. Newspapers from the time reveal there was a clear trend for ‘British-made’ military toys in the year that Britain joined World War One. Daily Mirror – Friday 04 December 1914Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.View the whole newspaper pageThe ‘Great Miniature Battle’ of 1914, with trenches and barbed wireAn advert for Gamage’s department store appeared in…

A letter about the Christmas Truce of 1914We found this wonderful newspaper report – based on a letter written by a junior officer- in The Archive about the impromptu Christmas Truce of 1914.…