Have you started to write in your calendar ready for the New Year?

It may surprise you to know that in the archives of the Norfolk Record Office we hold more than 340 calendars. Many of these have been printed and published by Jarrold & Sons Ltd and are held in the Jarrold Company Archive. The Jarrold calendars span the years 1946-2001 and their style varies, from the more traditional wall calendars to desktop and filing cabinet calendars. South African Appointment diaries and calendars printed for the South African Tourist Corporation are also included.

The Colourful British Scene Desk Diary for 1965, a Jarrold colour publication. Front cover: Coverack, Cornwall. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

The Colourful Scottish Scene Desk Diary for 1965, a Jarrold colour publication. Envelope and inside front cover. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

While the calendars in the Jarrold & Sons Ltd collection are mainly landscapes, themed on views of different areas of Britain, flower and animal themes also feature. There is also a more unusual alternative to traditional landscape calendars: the Homelovers series first published in 1959. These calendars were designed to give you ‘the quick answer to your house-hold problems from first aid and flower arranging to postal rates’.

Home-Lover’s Calendar 1964. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

Homelovers Calendar 1977. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23 

Contents page of the Homelovers Calendar 1977. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

At the Norfolk Record Office we hold the Homelovers Calendars from 1964 and 1972-1980. As well as a picture, each new month displays useful advice for the home including first aid advice approved by the St John Ambulance Association, Childhood Infections and Stain Removal. Other topics vary from year to year with examples including tips to save electricity, cooking times and temperatures, teenage parties, cake decorating, uses for aluminium foil, bread making, dental care, wine hints for entertainers, your carpet guide, home crafts and winter flower arranging.

October calendar pages from the Homelovers Calendar, 1973. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

October calendar page from the Homelovers Calendar 1976. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

At the back of each Homelovers calendar useful information on weights and measures and postal charges can be found. Later calendars also include some handy ‘Hints about the house’.

Below are some Homelovers ‘Hints about the house’ from 1980:

In the kitchen ‘If an aluminium pan has become discoloured, boil some apple peel in it for a few minutes, then rinse and dry it. The stain will be removed without scouring.’  

Children: ‘On long journeys carry a stock of little objects and goodies. Produce a different surprise each time you enter a new county, it will keep the children from becoming too bored and be educational as well.’

General ‘A bowl of salt in a newly painted room can help to dispel the smell of the paint.’

Hints on home decorating ‘To polish ceramic tiles or remove excess grout, use newspaper screwed into a ball.’

Many of the Jarrold calendars are stored with the original envelopes used for posting and these are often as decorative as the calendars themselves. Amongst the Jarrold calendars stored at the Norfolk Record Office are a large number of 1965 colour calendars, packaged inside printed red envelopes.

Envelope for the Jarrold Colour Calendars, 1965. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

A Jarrold Colour Calendar 1965. Printed and Published in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich, England. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

The calendars printed by Jarrold & Sons Ltd are interesting to browse through as a indication of how consumer tastes, the physical landscape and printing methods have changed over time. From the 1950s, you can view calendars from the Jarrold & Sons Ltd Colourful, Magna-Crome and Magna-Color series and from 1973, the Jarrold Magna-Color, Jarrold Cotman-Color and Postapic series.

London A Cotman-Color Calendar 1955. A filing cabinet calendar printed and published by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich, England. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

A page from ‘London A Cotman-Color Calendar 1955’. Printed and published by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich, England. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

A page from ‘Cambridge A Cotman-Color Calendar 1955.’ A filing cabinet calendar printed and published by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich, England. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

A ‘Postapic’ calendar. Published and Printed in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

All of the calendars above are available to view in the Norfolk Record Office searchroom with one day prior notice. Alternatively, if you are interested in learning more about the history of printing at Jarrold & Sons Ltd why not visit the Jarrold website or the John Jarrold Printing Museum which is open every Wednesday 09:30-12:30 and by special arrangement.

To conclude, we leave you with a ‘January thought’ from the Kathleen Partridge Golden Thoughts Calendar 1973, published and printed in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich.

Extract from The Kathleen Partridge Golden Thoughts Calendar 1973. A Jarrold Colour Publication. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23

The Kathleen Partridge Golden Thoughts Calendar 1973. Published and printed in Great Britain by Jarrold & Sons Ltd, Norwich. NRO catalogue number JLD 3/3/5/3/23