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Back in June 2022, we wrote a blog covering the formative, contentious years of the Pride movement in the United Kingdom. Looking through our newspapers on The Archive, we were able to piece together a historical trajectory from 1972-1992, demonstrating how Gay Pride rallies and marches drove both cultural and political expansion in the fight for LGBTQ+ rights. Tracing the narrative of Pride’s inception, we saw how members of Gay Pride protests, marches, and riots were met with widespread hostility and intolerance.…

This week at The Archive we are marking St Patrick’s Day with the addition of five brand new Irish titles, and updates to 29 of our existing Irish titles, as we delve into a potential Oscar Wilde work, where all is not as it seems. Furthermore, in all, we’ve added 215,303 brand new pages to our collection, as The Archive continues to grow.So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, and also to read…

This week at The Archive we are celebrating the beginning of Advent and the approach of Christmas with the addition of a trio of brand new titles, and 200,872 brand new pages in all. Meanwhile, we have a bonanza of updated Scottish titles for you to enjoy this week, with nineteen newspapers from Scotland enjoying updates and 27 of our titles being updated overall.So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles of the week, and also to…

This week at The Archive we have put in a sterling effort as we have now reached over 87 million pages, having added 299,609 brand new pages in all, alongside two brand new titles (the Rotherham Advertiser and the Stirling Journal and Advertiser), as we get into the festive spirit by exploring an Edwardian Christmas. That’s not all, as from Brechin to Bridgnorth, from Crawley to Cumbernauld, from Larne to Leamington Spa, we’ve updated 22 of our existing titles from across England, Scotland…

1889 was the year of the Cleveland Street scandal, in which a male brothel was raided in Cleveland Street, in London’s West End. At the time, sexual acts between men were illegal in Britain, and those who visited the house of assignation on Cleveland Street faced prosecution. However, due to the high social standing of many of the clientele of 19 Cleveland Street, only a few men faced prison time, as the British government were accused of covering up the scandal in…

At The Archive we are delighted to welcome guest blogs from our users, which highlight a wealth of different research interests. This month, we are excited to feature a blog on researching queer history by Staffordshire researcher Rebecca Morris-Quinn.My name is Rebecca, I am a queer woman living in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. I’ve been interested in genealogy and history for many years, since I found out that I share a birthday with a great-great aunt, Olive (albeit over 100 years ago).…

With less than a week to go until Christmas, we have an array of Christmas treats with which to spoil you, as we have added 599,426 brand new pages and 19 brand new newspaper titles to The Archive over the past seven days. Meanwhile, we’ve also reached 61 million pages in total on the site, a remarkable achievement to round off what has been a remarkable year for us.So read on to discover more about our new titles of the week, which…

Leslie Deakin, writing for The Tatler in November 1951, explains how ‘Christmas has its own traditions in games,’ and so, in this special blog, we are going to look at 20 Christmas party games from years gone by, all taken from our newspapers.From the familiar games that we know and love today, to those that have fallen out of fashion, we will explore 20 different Christmas party games that may or may not provide you with some inspiration for your celebrations this…

As Christmas is once more upon us, and the world slowly starts to go back to normal after several years of lockdowns, Christmas parties are again back in vogue. It got us wondering here at The Archive how the Christmas party has changed and developed over time. Naturally, we turned to our newspapers to discover more, learning how the key components of food, drink and music have always been part of historic Christmas celebrations.So in this special blog, we…

On 1 December 1900 the Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette reported on ‘The Death of Mr Oscar Wilde:’The Paris correspondent of the Dublin Evening Mail telegraphs that Mr Oscar Wilde died yesterday at three o’clock in the Latin Quartier. He had been suffering for some time. Two days ago he became unconscious. Six weeks ago he underwent an operation, which appeared to have been successful, but a complication which followed proved fatal.The death of the poet, playwright and novelist…