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Here at The Archive we are delighted to welcome 204,443 brand new pages this week, as we mark 125 years since the passing of the Mines (Prohibition of Child Labour Underground) Act 1900, which banned children under the age of thirteen from working underground in mines. This act, following the raising of the school leaving age to twelve in 1899, represented an important milestone in the eradication of child labour.Meanwhile, we’ve added eight brand new titles this week, which span the length and…

This week at The Archive we’re exploring the traditions surrounding Midsummer Eve and Midsummer Day, as we welcome a trio of brand new newspapers to our holdings. Furthermore, we’re delighted to be welcoming 151,872 brand new pages in all this week, whilst we have updated fourteen of our existing titles from across the United Kingdom and Ireland.So read on to discover more about our new and updated newspapers this week, and also to learn more about the history of Midsummer…

With the Summer Solstice fast approaching, as well as the midpoint of the year and Midsummer’s Day, we at The Archive were keen to delve into the traditions and superstitions surrounding this time of year.With a history of celebration in Britain and Ireland that predates Christianity and the Roman invasion, in this special blog we are going to take a look at the history and origins of Summer Solstice celebrations, as well as investigating the range of traditions that…

This October we’re exploring the historical superstitions and traditions from across the British Isles and Ireland. Here, we’ve compiled 30 of the most intriguing historical superstitions, sourced from our newspaper collection.From the more well-known superstitions, for example, not passing underneath a ladder, or throwing spilled salt over your shoulder, to those you may not have heard of, like giving a knife along with a penny, anyone?), without any further ado, here are 30 fascinating superstitions from history for you to peruse.…

This week at The Archive we are delighted to welcome a duo of brand new titles to our collection, the Alnwick Guardian and County Advertiser and the Newport Pagnell Citizen, as we explore the Northumberland tradition of the kern dinner, which is held to celebrate the harvest home. Meanwhile, we have added 146,333 brand new pages to our collection in total, whilst we have updated 21 of our existing titles.So read on to discover more about our new and updated titles…

This week at The Archive we marking the leap day of 29 February by adding 247,740 brand new pages, as well as examining the tradition of the leap year proposal. We’ve also added a duo of new titles, whilst we’ve updated 69 of our existing titles from across the world, from the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Caribbean, New Zealand and Hong Kong.So read on to discover more about the tradition of the leap year proposal, our two new titles,…

To mark St Andrew’s Day this year, the day that celebrates the patron saint of Scotland, we’ve added a very special brand new title to The Archive, Scotland on Sunday, alongside 218,837 brand new pages from across the United Kingdom. That’s not it, we’ve also added one wonderfully named title from the county of Worcestershire, the Kidderminster Shuttle, whilst we’ve updated our existing titles from Carrickfergus to Croydon, from Coleshill to Crowthorne.So read on to discover more about our duo…

As it’s the height of spooky season we’re exploring the history of Halloween at The Archive, with the help of the 93,381 brand new pages that we have added to our collection over the last seven days. Meanwhile, we’re delighted to welcome one brand new newspaper title to The Archive, which is the Middlesex & Surrey Gazette, whilst we have made exciting updates to some of our existing titles from across Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.So read on to discover more…

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…

This week at The Archive we have been busy adding an incredible 167,444 brand new pages to our collection, with nineteen new titles added in all. And this week’s new titles have an especially Scottish theme, with a lucky thirteen new titles added from Scotland alone over the past seven days.Meanwhile, we have added six historic London titles, digitised as part of the British Library’s Heritage Made Digital programme, and updated fifteen of our existing newspaper titles, including pages from…