Track down real life stories about local people
Newark Library holds a large collection of materials recording the history of Newark and its surrounding villages from earliest times right up to the present day. Some of the main kinds of material are:-
- Books – recording all aspects of the town’s history
- Newspapers – The Newark Advertiser on microfilm from when it started (1854) to the present day
- Maps – Earliest map of Newark is 1790, thereafter at intervals to the present day
- Photographs – 3000+ images of Newark and surrounding villages (also available on our website http://www.picturethepast.org.uk/ )
- Parish Registers – Christenings, Marriages and Burials for all CofE churches in the Newark area from 16th century to the present day
- Census Returns – Free access to computers for http://www.ancestry.com/
How could these Resources be Used in Story Telling?
Books, Newspapers
- There are books which already contain short stories about Newark and its history eg local legends
- Other local history books or newspapers could be used to create new stories on aspects of local history eg incidents from history such as the first motor car passing through the town, railway accidents
- Experiences of people in Newark who came from elsewhere – wartime evacuees, wartime Polish pilots, travellers etc
- Reactions to major events – eg 1980s miner’s strike, royal jubilees, Olympic torch
Census, Maps, Parish Registers
- Provides information on who lived where and what jobs they did, so could be used to create the ‘story of a street’
- Parish registers record the major life events of families
- Maps will help chart the changing appearance of a street over time
Photographs
- These have great narrative potential as starting points in creating stories– Salvationists and children gathered in Water Lane – what is happening?, Sunday School Festivals, charabanc outings, groups of soldiers from the First World War, pictures of evacuees from the Second World War – what was it like for children
And Finally…..
The library service has its own local history website http://www.ournottinghamshire.org.uk/ where anyone can upload text, images, audio, video free of charge on any aspect of local history. The stories based in local history could be written up or recorded and put on this website for free.
This resource was created by Newark Library (Nottinghamshire County Council), March 2014.