Seventy Years of Collecting Cambridgeshire with Links to Sources - Mike Petty. 2024.
Seventy Years of Collecting Cambridgeshire with Links to Sources.
Cambridge Antiquarian Society and Cambridgeshire Association for Local History
by Mike Petty. 2024.
This is a transcript of a talk I gave at Magdalene College. It is reprinted here so you may view the links to other online sources.
From my desk in Stretham I look across to two of the village’s large houses
Between me and that view is a computer screen. On that computer I can view hundreds of books, 100 years of newspapers, thousands of pictures and much more relating to Cambridgeshire. Virtually everything on my screen can also be found on whatever device you are viewing. It is my library on your laptop.
In 1949 I was sent a postcard of my village; it was ‘old’ when sent. I have been collecting Cambridgeshire material ever since.
Today that postcard can be viewed and downloaded by every child in the village, together with over 4,000 more images.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/FLZcw9CLY2pXcjtx5
While I was at Stretham School the Headmaster arranged for a lecture by a previous vicar to be retyped using the skills of the County Librarian’s Secretary. Today the original is online
In 1964 I got a job at Cambridge City Library. Eric Cave, City Librarian. Andrew Armour, Chief Assistant Librarian.
My attention was caught by a book that I knew, Grandad had it. Grandad was the village Rat Catcher.
He didn’t have much time for reading, but he had two books. One was a book on boxing. The other was ‘A History of the Fens’ by James Wentworth Day. It brought the fens to life for him.
I discovered Cambridge Library had been started in 1855 and from the first had tried to collect everything published about Cambridge and Cambridgeshire.
That Cambridgeshire material was by 1964 hidden away in a back room, largely forgotten. The Collection had been severely impacted when material relating to the University had been discarded, leading to resignation from members of the Library Committee. Cliff Thurley, who had spent many years on the Collection, instructed me to buy back anything containing the label
For 35 years I read and catalogued each book, maps, playbills, and handbills. We often worked with Philip Ward of Oleander Press to produce new titles.
Newspapers dating back to 1770 contained much more. A class from Haddenham WEA prompted an idea to index the Stretham news reported in the Cambridge Chronicle. https://archive.org/details/StrethamChronicleAndScrapbook17702018
Other volunteers enabled the news for every Cambridgeshire village in the Cambridge Chronicle from 1770 to 1899 to be indexed. Many stories were transcribed and published in ‘Village Chronicles’. The National Inventory of Documentary Sources microfilmed it
There were hundreds of images from the 1690s, including Falcon Yard, together with pictures I took during the Lion Yard Redevelopment
When Stearn’s the Photographers closed down I inspected the negatives. Nothing could be done and they were dumped. Later in 1977 we did arrange for a file of Stearn negatives from WWII to be brought back to Cambridge from a base near Leeds.
Ramsey and Muspratt of Post Office Terrace had a similar issue with negatives. This time we sorted them. Sometime later we took a Removal Van to bring them back from Sutton Coldfield where a new photographer had moved them. They have been listed by members of the Cambridgeshire Family History Society
Walter Martin Lane gave his Collection his photos of the Fen Floods of 1947. These were shared with residents and their memories recorded.
https://archive.org/details/mpc-32a-soundings-1947-flood.-1995
https://archive.org/details/great-flood-of-1947-lester-milbank-1997.
It helped to revive the news of the Cambridgeshire Collection.
An article in the Cambridge News by Rodney Tibbs in 12 November 1969, promoted the Collection.
It led to co-operation with the News and we worked with them for many years, including Editor, Robert Satchwell, Sara Payne, Chris Elliott and many other journalists.
Local Government Reorganisation brought a Cambridgeshire Collection suite on the third floor of a new Central Library in Lion Yard. However the new ‘combined’ Cambridgeshire Libraries gave no opportunity to share the local studies resources collected by the Isle of Ely, Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and the City of Peterborough. https://archive.org/details/PettyM.J.TheAlbatrossInheritance.1985
There was no formal collaboration between Local Studies Libraries, Archives and Museums. However officers came together to create a Cambridgeshire Heritage Showcase featuring displays from each of the resources that local historians needed.
The Collection established a Teaching Area for classes. Jim Brown, a History Teacher, was seconded to evaluate its resources for Secondary Schools, the Open University launched its project to share dissertations on CDs, Homerton College featured it on a training video for teachers https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X2gVuqyu3A
The Collection worked with the Newsplan Project to ensure all 35 Cambridgeshire papers were microfilmed. This has since been supplemented by the British Newspaper Archive https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk.
Newspapers continued to be bound to 2005 and microfilming continued to 2007.
The Collection also took cuttings from local newspapers from the 1960s to 2019
By the mid-1990s the Collection was being used by some 1,000 researchers each month. They used various detailed catalogues and indexes
During numerous changes the Cambridgeshire Collection card catalogue of books has been discarded. The essential classified catalogue has been lost. It has been replaced with an online version. It survives on Microfilm
The Collection’s work was acknowledged by various awards with an MBE, an Honorary Cambridge MA and life membership of Clare Hall, on my ‘retirement’. https://youtu.be/6PkkTceDNn0
The first thing I did on ‘retirement’ was to go back to the Collection – it is a Public Library. Part of my ‘package’ was the right to promote the Resources. Meanwhile other changes were taking place. On my final day the electricity failed, plunging the room into blackness. It was time to leave
My successor, Chris Jakes, took over. But by the turn of the century the Collection’s staff and facilities were drastically cut during a period of mismanagement that saw the entire Central Library closed for many months. However protests have ensured that the Collection remains a part of the Cambridge Central Library though now with less accessible resources
There are other Libraries: Cambridge University Library has been pioneering projects to digitise books, journal articles and reports. With a ‘Raven’ password I was able to discover hundreds of items not held in the Collection
Which I have downloaded to my library together with material from other sites such as Google Books and Internet Archive. These can be shared via Memory Sticks – you can carry hundreds of books in your pocket.
To spread an awareness of the Collection’s resources, for 40 years I wrote hundreds of articles in Cambridge Newspapers. They are uploaded to Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/MikesOnlineResources
I also compiled a number of books, including the Cambridge Antiquarian Society’s photographic record. Many were in conjunction with the Cambridge Evening News, allowing me to draw upon their library
Cambridge News. From the mid 1960’s the Cambridge News had maintained their own library to record every story that had been published in their newspaper. That library was closed down, March 2014. But I had permission to use it
The negatives were scrapped when the Cambridge News moved from St Andrew’s Street to Newmarket Road. One or two survived together with those saved by John Carter which he bequeathed to the Collection.
The News contained many thousands of prints and negatives taken by their photographers. Many of these had been uploaded into a digital format. They are no longer in Cambridge. They now form part of the Mirrorpix Archive. They claim to provide copies for researchers. A search for images of Cricket has failed to find any.
Previously I worked through hundreds of folders of photographs and thousands of negatives. I took digital copies of many of these then used an image processing program to convert them to positives which I added to my files.
They form some of over 20,000 images I have catalogued and copied to Google Photos
https://archive.org/details/CambridgeshireIllustrationsPart1Index
https://archive.org/details/cambridgehire-illustrations-1574-to-2000-in-mike-pettys-collection-nov-2020
https://photos.app.goo.gl/JpSUwUy5cFdQJx1q9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/CVkH8YnnZnJFHvpJ6
The Cambridge News Librarians maintained thousands of cuttings files from the 1960s to the end of the century. They covered all aspects of Cambridge and its county.
Many duplicated the files maintained by the Cambridgeshire Collection. They were not needed and were scheduled to be dumped. Instead they were given to me. I have passed them to the Cambridge Independent.
The Cambridge News moved under its new owner, Reach, to a site at Landbeach. A number of cuttings files moved with them. When that site closed I was invited to reunite the files. With Chris Holley and Dave Smith we moved them to an adjoining office block. Later we went back for a few more, returning them to the Cambridge Independent. They will make them available to researchers.
I have however copied 30 of the files of cuttings to Google Photos including Rivers, Fenland, Floods and Communities around Ely
The Cambridge News Librarians also built-up detailed card indexes recording everything published in their paper. These were housed in filing cabinets. One morning I opened the cabinets to find that all the cards had disappeared. They were dumped by staff as the paper had moved to a digital format. Fortunately I had copied a few of the indexes including Stretham and the villages around Ely
When you buy your copies of Cambridgeshire Newspapers you receive the latest edition. However if you subscribe your subscription also covers earlier files of the paper. One can search information on thousands of topics. One cannot however structure that topic. Both papers also publish online editions.
I have received copies from the Cambridge News, not the Cambridge Independent.
In 1988 I compiled a history of the Cambridge News. At the same time I surveyed many of the stories they had covered, using the files maintained by the Collection to produce ‘A Century of Cambridge News’
Subsequently for over 20 years I read through the papers to compile a daily Looking Back column in the Cambridge News recording some of the interesting stories published 25, 50, 75 and 100 years before.
These stories have been brought together in one 4,000-page chronological Cambridgeshire Scrapbook.
It records thousands of otherwise forgotten facts from the period 1897-1990. It can be searched by name and place.
https://archive.org/details/a-cambridgeshire-scrapboook-1897-1990-by-mike-petty.-july-2020 check
There are over 400 ‘Mini-scrapbooks’ on villages and topics
https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Mike%20Petty%22%20AND%20(mediatype%3Atexts)
Subsequently other stories published in the Ely Standard and Cambridgeshire Times have been added to the files
When compiling the ‘Cambridgeshire Scrapbook’ I took digital copies of thousands of the original articles as published in the paper from 1905. These are online on Google Photos. You can click through stories appearing throughout the two World Wars as well as the depression of the 1930s, the ‘forgotten 50s’, ‘swinging 60s’ and through to 1990.
CamNews
1905-07 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gQeTRHFZ5bLcPBRq9
1905 https://photos.app.goo.gl/tfwZQjzv12J9e2Cc7
1906 https://photos.app.goo.gl/QUgdsLeFGpRuaF1k8
1907 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YCmFRpJAq67eeB9TA
1908 https://photos.app.goo.gl/8eVHWCnVPCW9cWni7
1910 https://photos.app.goo.gl/V5ZR6QjCB5ufSptw9
1911 https://photos.app.goo.gl/dvEP6zvxf14PxFnCA
1912 https://photos.app.goo.gl/scs8oJaJAWEcxu1G9
1914 01-05 https://photos.app.goo.gl/1G6KGiyVBCG3bgRj8
1915 https://photos.app.goo.gl/kU75VKExfcgXvmSM9
1916 https://photos.app.goo.gl/zbvEA51wNdUuReJe6
1917 https://photos.app.goo.gl/N8hG7b8mtdLEnQqq9
1918 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZJPqce6g6XsXcU7C8
1919 https://photos.app.goo.gl/5d5etstfNGhgSCUD9
1920 https://photos.app.goo.gl/wYx1hs7pEdKgJDES6
1921 https://photos.app.goo.gl/2RM4FFZcbn134fr36
1922 01-02 https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Kp4234yDKucnb396
1930-39 https://photos.app.goo.gl/HdHm2pPD3WQ4uop57
1931 https://photos.app.goo.gl/UmM9GSetwqRirtiD6
1932 https://photos.app.goo.gl/en5ND3vgEh1ykGPUA
1933 https://photos.app.goo.gl/yZ866EPpEZd7B3MR6
1934 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ocR4LUHLxtadcV9P8
1935 https://photos.app.goo.gl/GUTSUmBuLm1NqkY26
1936 https://photos.app.goo.gl/SeXy6qeC5uJaeiBE6
1937 https://photos.app.goo.gl/JPcwAtiFr21WLmfJ7
1938 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gjxnyi8QmQEoyk8P9
1939 https://photos.app.goo.gl/xcBmGJtJTcwknobL9
1940
1940 https://photos.app.goo.gl/W3ULUs6pXipFQGgu9
1941 https://photos.app.goo.gl/j3v641j2fDYzA9Mu6
1942 https://photos.app.goo.gl/XeytJ1bxZzQhDBGL7
1943 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6ABpSgP4V8C5fhQYA
1944 https://photos.app.goo.gl/QKiE9AMnS66eckncA
1945 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Bkqzr3Eqt6jr4FZm6
1946 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ktmNPr5nhnKdkDGw9
1950
1950 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ee8G1n4aUvVsGR8E8
1951 https://photos.app.goo.gl/BH8UzHBpzXsbqRdz5
1952 https://photos.app.goo.gl/3cHnBPB9dY12i3DMA
1953 https://photos.app.goo.gl/718taKUCKHCX9tNb9
1954 https://photos.app.goo.gl/umsPRJbnynMLqNki7
1955-59 https://photos.app.goo.gl/KT4m35GrCKwRgaCG9
1955 https://photos.app.goo.gl/yHmGRBuQtSeumbfV9
1958 https://photos.app.goo.gl/JTbR7nb15qMAS63CA
1959 https://photos.app.goo.gl/iVuok6AK7ojWkzR47
1960
1960-64 https://photos.app.goo.gl/QBFPQG84j1F27Jko8
1961 https://photos.app.goo.gl/hrkuTKtDjYofZ4Wv5
1962 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gGVC7skomGW9RJAA9
1963 https://photos.app.goo.gl/koUDs9diqbgwo6RC7
1964 https://photos.app.goo.gl/t1nw8PChCXixndCcA
1965 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ARd6N1D4nkvs4msz8
1966 https://photos.app.goo.gl/eGRuMZJJdwW5foQr7
1967 https://photos.app.goo.gl/kNDhXKMpaxpmaf5s9
1968 https://photos.app.goo.gl/hFQWuG3eFvjLfq7W9
1969 https://photos.app.goo.gl/xWYfKYZ4DJgoRpWTA
1970
1970 https://photos.app.goo.gl/jaDdF4b4HJnQ3Qn77
1971 https://photos.app.goo.gl/2ssMjDkJCkp5KZP4A
1972 https://photos.app.goo.gl/iPAh76skczQ8j1xE9
1980
1980-89 https://photos.app.goo.gl/GJt5f8x4S2c3Rk9a8
1980 https://photos.app.goo.gl/VTtLLHCEGpYojaEk8
1981 https://photos.app.goo.gl/cpUHr9ryrbYdbjWw9
1982 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Fx3EggCkVBzcqAqA6
1985 https://photos.app.goo.gl/sZVyFFhAhkAn7BzBA
1986 https://photos.app.goo.gl/QY3huLhT5DhoJC6h7
1987 https://photos.app.goo.gl/S89bdFe4qz3wrQLB6
1988 https://photos.app.goo.gl/tXtAQiJaXv4A87Zb9
1989 https://photos.app.goo.gl/nrUo4z9JmCHqQmpC7
1990
1990 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YfJdJ6u15irw9aeb9
Ely Newspapers copied on Google Photos
1915 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZhedznuHwJqmBYVS6
1918 https://photos.app.goo.gl/hcScWumsfpQB2ijj7
1919 https://photos.app.goo.gl/KLs7wgjrbWYmaDNh6
1920
1920 https://photos.app.goo.gl/8ZwToPUdpcY1aKpY9
1921 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YH7jPYmebuCvtUbF9
1922 https://photos.app.goo.gl/4SdE1ip5y7pqG1668
1923 https://photos.app.goo.gl/VZU33re5xofnBaEFA
1924 https://photos.app.goo.gl/efwSvgjkQov2xuiK8
1925 https://photos.app.goo.gl/8or3WimoacKbrhxH7
1926 https://photos.app.goo.gl/5ftKhAhThW7zMmcJ8
1927 https://photos.app.goo.gl/5yh9iYNMWx7WKA1s9
1928 https://photos.app.goo.gl/VWnCD4Ht1zA7tGsn9
1929 https://photos.app.goo.gl/YrWBN8XsYB8aVPKa7
1930
1930 https://photos.app.goo.gl/vBAPfCHAjgqGaoHh7
1931 https://photos.app.goo.gl/7sue4BjHVBg4dTzN9
1932 https://photos.app.goo.gl/en5ND3vgEh1ykGPUA
1933 https://photos.app.goo.gl/yZ866EPpEZd7B3MR6
1934 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ocR4LUHLxtadcV9P8
1935 https://photos.app.goo.gl/6jjX6gW3xWvtc6Eo8
1937 https://photos.app.goo.gl/JPcwAtiFr21WLmfJ7
1938 https://photos.app.goo.gl/gjxnyi8QmQEoyk8P9
1950
1950 https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ee8G1n4aUvVsGR8E8
1951 https://photos.app.goo.gl/BH8UzHBpzXsbqRdz5
1952 https://photos.app.goo.gl/3cHnBPB9dY12i3DMA
1953 https://photos.app.goo.gl/718taKUCKHCX9tNb9
1954 https://photos.app.goo.gl/umsPRJbnynMLqNki7
1955 https://photos.app.goo.gl/FPJnhgiYjVKfV51A8
1956 https://photos.app.goo.gl/3LEHan6kR3egrxJt6
1957 https://photos.app.goo.gl/ZXSkh5eeXMCERbs89
1960
1965 https://photos.app.goo.gl/emV83L1n2TJLRQWb7
Cambridge 1888-1990: a Chronicle of an English University City is a 4,000-page record of 100 aspects of Cambridge. It cover topics such as planning, transport, war, women, health etc. etc.
https://archive.org/details/cambridge-1888-1990-a-chronicle.-2021
With the help of the Cambridgeshire Collection. You can trace the story of Fitzroy Street in the 1930s.
You can trace the story of Campkin Road in the 1960s. You cannot trace the story of Marleigh – nobody is making newspaper cuttings Something for future historians to work out
Charles Henry Cooper, Town Clerk of Cambridge, published a series of ‘Annals of Cambridge’ recording events in Cambridge from the earliest times to 1857. These volumes have been published online with an index to contents.
https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg01coopuoft
https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg02coop
https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg03coopuoft
https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg04coop
https://archive.org/details/annalsofcambridg05coopuoft
In 2018 I published a ‘Cambridge 1888 to 1988: a Chronicle of an English University City
Annals of Cambridge 1857 to 1887 is an attempt to bring the two together. It does not cover University history.
To compile it I have worked through files of the Cambridge Chronicle and Cambridge Independent Press.
https://archive.org/details/annals-of-cambridge-1857-1887-by-mike-petty.-2023./mode/2up
These reflects the ethos of the founders of the Cambridgeshire Collection: to record all aspects of local life and to share it freely with all.
For thirteen years weekly ‘Fenland History on Friday’ meetings heard presentations from fenmen to academics with visits to the Collection and other areas of Cambridgeshire.
For more than 50 years I have shared an awareness of the Cambridgeshire Collection, travelling to virtually every parish and speaking to four groups a week.
I have spoken to the Worker’s Education Association, University Board of Education and International Summer Schools – including the Italian Library Association - and learned from them.
I have spoken to all Cambridgeshire Museum, including Ely, which I opened, one of a number the City has had. But the expert was Reg Holmes, a Railwayman, who collection has been continued by Pam Blakeman.
Ely and Pymoor are two of the Cambridgeshire Community Archive Network. Others, including Stretham, have disappeared from the site.
Hugo Brown, from Wilburton, has produced DVDs featuring collections from other local historians.
There were scores of Radio Cambridgeshire broadcasts including Cambridgeshire Echoes, Time Was and a number of ‘Off The Beaten Track’. These can now be heard to on any device. Radio Cambridgeshire presented their interviews with World War I soldiers. https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Mike%20Petty%22%20AND%20audio
Today I use Facebook to share information. Fenland History on Facebook is a group devoted to Cambridge and the whole of the County – not just the Flat Black bit. Each day posts are seen by more than 25,000 people. They have a wealth of knowledge they are delighted to share. Just as in a Library.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1026849820769556/
Hundreds of files have been published on Internet Archive where they can be read, downloaded and used freely. There were over 70,000 users during ‘lock-down’ when libraries and archives were closed
https://archive.org/details/MikesOnlineResources
History shows that physical libraries will be lost. William Cole, the great Antiquarian, lamented: ‘To give my manuscripts to King’s College would be to throw them into a horse pond’. The Stretham pond has been filled in.
The material that I have is just a fraction of what is already in the Cambridgeshire Collection. Cambridgeshire Archives, at Ely, state ‘Your catalogue does not fit our collecting policy so we are unable to accept the donation’. Cambridge University Library may offer some of it a home – perhaps in its store on the old Witchford airfield, or at the Pierre Gorman collection at Melbourne University Library
Meantime I share it with the magnificent Capturing Cambridgeshire site from the Museum of Cambridge, a site reflecting the work of Enid Porter, inspiration of so many
But for the moment it is here at Stretham on shelves, in drawers and on my computer.
It is also here on your tablet or laptop. You can read and download it from Google Photos and Internet Archive.
Just search ‘Mike Petty Internet Archive’
Click https://archive.org/details/MikesOnlineResources
Check out my website: www.mikepetty.org.uk
email mikepetty13a@gmail.com
Phone 01353 648106.
Or just ask
There is now another Stretham history on every computer, tablet, laptop or mobile phone. Cambridge Heritage Associates – Beth Davis, Alison Taylor, Sarah Wroot, Tom Doig - with Mike Young – produced a Stretham Millennium History in 2000. https://archive.org/details/StrethamMillenniumHistoryMikePetty2015
I will continue to explore aspects of my home community and still hope to find postcards that have eluded me over the last 70+ years.
www.mikepetty.org.uk
mikepetty13a@gmail.com
Talks were restricted during the pandemic.
I restarted with a presentation on Pickwick’s Cambridge Scrapbook.
But on Good Friday 2023 a combination of Covid, an Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm and a Broken Back severely incapacitate Mike.
I continue however to pursue local history, sharing posts on Fenland History on Facebook and offering advice.
I have been privileged to meet and been able to assist thousands of folk to discover Cambridgeshire ‘history’ and help them share it with others
Seventy Years of Collecting Cambridgeshire has been possible only through the support of one person – who is hiding behind this picture.
Grandad was a Rat Catcher. He didn’t do computers – like so many other people. But he had an interest in the history of his locality. If he knew his grandson would give his last lecture to Cambridge Antiquarian Society and Cambridgeshire Association for Local History. I know what he would have said: Gor d’blimey. What a Rummon.
Virtually everything on my screen can also be found on whatever device you are viewing. It is my library on your laptop. It includes ‘Seventy Years of Collecting Cambridgeshire’
https://archive.org/details/seventy-years-of-collecting-cambridgeshire-2024/page/n19/mode/2up
If you are 'researching' anything Cambridgeshire you should take a look at
Cambridgeshire History on Your Computer: hundreds of files, thousands of illustrations and newspaper articles shared on Internet Archive https://bit.ly/3vHS23Y
Fenland History on Facebook: my group for folk seeking and sharing Cambridgeshire history
Thanks to Mike for sharing the transcript of the talk he gave us on 8th June 2024 at Magdalene College. The links that he has included in this are extremely useful and will be of great help for anyone researching our local history. Pictures from the event below.