- Behind the scenes experience
- Reminiscence: Talking sport
- History talks
- Research workshops
- History in Focus
- Quick Guides
- Transport Tales
For a chronological list of events please visit our Eventbrite page.
Behind the scenes experience
In person
Tuesday 21 April, 10-11.30am
£7 per person*
Join us for our popular visit behind the scenes at the Norfolk Record Office. Find out how the conservators repair both parchment and paper documents, have a look at our Strongrooms, and see a display of original documents.
*Norfolk Archives and Heritage Development Foundation supporters get two free tickets for our Behind the Scenes experience as part of their individual membership. For more information and to join visit NorAH.
Reminiscence
Talking sport
In person
Wednesday 22 April, 2-3.30pm
Free of charge
What recollections do you have of school sports, supporting your favourite team, or enjoying Wimbledon or the Olympics from the comfort of home? Join us in our café style setting to grab a cuppa and chat about your memories.
There will be a chance to see some original documents and sound recordings of people’s recollections of their sporting activities.
Refreshments included
History talks
Exploring the landscape of Mousehold Heath Aerodrome
In person and online
By Reuben Harvey
Wednesday 25 March, 1-2pm
Free of charge
Mousehold Heath has a long and rich history in Norwich. This talk will explore the landscape of Mousehold Heath aerodrome alongside the history of aviation in Norwich between 1915 and 1945. Come along to learn how the heath was used as a military training ground and, in the space of thirty years, was transformed into a civilian flight school and later a decoy airfield.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Last royals of the Punjab: the Duleep Singhs
In person and online
By Peter Bance
Wednesday 6 May, 1-2pm
Free of charge
An exciting talk about the Maharajah Duleep Singh of Elveden whose family lived around Norfolk for almost a century. The illustrated presentation by author Peter Bance who will share his research about the local benefactor Prince Frederick, and the daughters of the Maharajah who are featured in an highly acclaimed new exhibition at Kensington Palace, showing the their stories from being Suffragettes to saving Jews from Nazi Germany.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Researching the workhouse : 1945
In person and online
By Rachel Kidd
Wednesday 10 June, 1-2pm
Free of charge
Many people might be surprised to learn that the workhouse system (then called Public Assistance Institutions) continued to operate as late as the Second World War. What happened in these institutions during this time, and how might staff and residents in Norfolk have been affected by the end of the war? Join Rachel Kidd, Curator at Gressenhall Farm and Workhouse, as she discusses new research into life and events in and around the Mitford and Launditch Union Workhouse in 1945, and shares how these stories were brought to life through funding provided by The National Archives.
Refreshments will be available 10 minutes before the talk starts. Feel free to grab yourself a cuppa and settle down for an interesting 45 minutes.
Research workshops
Our research workshops to help you to get started or discover additional materials useful for your own research.
Introduction to family history
Online
Monday 9 March, 10-11am
Free of charge
Join us online to find out how to get started on tracing your family history. Topics and documents include tips on collecting materials and memories within your immediate family, how to use census records, civil registration, and parish registers to trace your ancestors.
The session is led by a knowledgeable and experienced tutor who will take you through each source focusing on their uses for research and how to access them. You are welcome to ask questions at the end of the session. Each participant will be sent a workbook which includes a practical activity to try at home.
This session is aimed at anyone who is new to family history research.
Taking family history further -tracing First World War ancestors
Online
Tuesday 16 June, 10-11am
Free of charge
This online workshop will help you find out about your ancestors who served in the First World War. If you have found that your ancestors were in the military, this session is for you. We will look at how to access and use the census, absent voter lists, medal cards and attestation papers.
The session is led by a knowledgeable and experienced tutor who will take you through each source focusing on their uses for research and how to access them. You are welcome to ask questions at the end of the session. Each participant will be sent a workbook which includes a practical activity to try at home.
History in focus
Each session will explain how to use the searchroom and online catalogue to find documents on a particular topic before talking through some examples and then giving you a chance to explore documents connected to the topic in more detail.
Manorial records
In person
Thursday 11 June, 2-3.30pm
Pay what you can (£2.50 per person suggested).
Manor records are an undervalued source for tracing house history, and can help with family history research too. This session explains how the manor court system worked, how to identify and access key manorial records such as court rolls and books, surveys and rentals, and how to use these in your research.
Refreshments included.
Quick guides
Each of our quick guides looks closely at an individual set of documents or research topic.
Workhouse records
Online
Wednesday 15 April, 10-10.45am
Free of charge
Join us to find out more about the different records created by the workhouse system in England and Wales. From Parish Workhouses to the Union Workhouses we are familiar with from cultural references in Victorian works of fiction. We will take you through the records created about individual inmates to those dealing with the running of the workhouse.
Booking required using the link below
Quarter Session records
Online
Tuesday 19 May, 10-10.45am
Free of charge
From Tudor times until 1889, Norfolk was administered by the Justices of the Peace through the system of Quarter Sessions. This session takes you swiftly through some of the documents created by the precursor to Norfolk County Council. We explain some of the different types of records you may come across and how to go about using them in your research.
Please book using the link below
Reading from the archives
Transport tales
Online
Monday 15 June, 10-10.30 am
Free of charge
Listen to readings of a variety of documents all linked by the the theme of transport. Including many first-hand accounts such as a travel journal recounting a train journey (described at the time as by ‘steam carriage’) from Manchester to Liverpool in less than an hour and a half in 1834 and a description of from a journal of riding in a motor car for the first time in 1900.
Please book using the link below
Norfolk Record Office 