The National Archives has a diverse programme of talks and events that I get regular updates on but don’t often find the time to go to. For those of you not based on the other side of London however, I do recommend having a look at the upcoming topics, as there’s plenty there for those interested in maritime and imperial history.
Coming up on June 25 for example, there’s a talk about Jamestown: “how piracy greed, religion and warfare became the foundations of Elizabethan attempts to settle America”.
And if you can’t make it in person you can see (hear?) what you’ve been missing on the podcast page. I’ll be downloading Chris Watt’s talk about passenger lists (mp3 file), and Bruno Pappalardo’s one on Naval medical journals (mp3 file) – the one that Martin blogged about.
Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)
Obituaries of Millvina Dean are everywhere today. Even though she was just 3 months old when the Titanic sank – and therefore had no actual memories of the disaster – she was nevertheless its last surviving passenger, and in her later life became an active participant in Titanic societies and memorial events. There’s some lovely video of her talking about her experiences, and more personal stories from survivors in the BBC Archive collection.
Millvina’s story reminds me how powerful personal accounts are, and how quickly they engage our imagination of historical events. This is something that Walter Lord knew and captured in his book A Night to Remember, and something that William Macquitty saw clearly when he read Lord’s book and realised it would make a compelling film. Their collection of letters, transcripts, and memorabilia is held in our archive collection and is a fascinating study on oral history and story.
You can hear more about some specific items from the Lord Macquitty collection in our first Archive Journey podcast (which we hope to follow with another in the very near future!), and if you would like to pay your respects to Millvina Dean, Encyclopedia Titanica is running a thread on its message board for her.
Renee (Digital Resources Librarian)