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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 we are marking 200 years since the birth of the modern railway, with the addition of three brand new railway titles to our holdings. That’s not all, we’ve added 362,596 brand new pages to our collection, with extensive updates to one of the south coast’s most famous titles, the Portsmouth Evening News.Through our new railway titles this week, we’ll take a look at another important moment in railway history, the opening of the North British Railway in June 1846, which…

This September we are marking 200 years since the birth of the modern railway. On 27 September 1825 the first modern railway was opened, namely the Stockton and Darlington Railway, and what better way to celebrate this iconic transport first, than by uncovering 20 pioneering railway firsts from our Archive.Register now and explore The Archive1. The earliest mention of the word ‘railway’ in our Archive – March 1759Well before the opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, railways, in the sense of tracks, were…

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…

This September at The Archive we are going back to school with the addition of brand new title the Schoolmaster and Edinburgh Weekly Magazine, alongside three other brand new titles from London, Liverpool, and Kent. Meanwhile, we’ve added 302,872 brand new pages so far this month, with 26 of our existing titles updated too, from England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.So from Bayswater to Bury, from Carmarthen to Croydon, from Donegal to Dumfries, read on to discover more about our new and…

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…

As part of our railway history month on The Archive, we’re delighted to welcome a very special guest blog post from Dr Mike Esbester, Senior Lecturer in History at the University of Portsmouth and co-lead of the ‘Railway Work, Life & Death Project.’ In this special blog, Mike takes a look at the dark side of railway work, and how the British Newspaper Archive has helped to inform research into railway accidents from days past.The Dark Side of Railway Work…

Long before Agatha Christie envisioned murder on the Orient Express, or before she wondered what might have taken place on the 4.50 from Paddington, murder, mystery and mayhem were already well established on the railways of Britain and beyond.The first victim of murder on British railways was 70-year-old Thomas Briggs. In this special blog, we will take a look at his story, as well as nine others sourced from the pages of our newspaper Archive, which tell the strange, the…