Archive Articles
History - Jan 2024
Archives insight: Devonport 200
Did you know 1 January 2024 marks the 200th anniversary of the town of Dock (or Plymouth-Dock) becoming known as Devonport?
History - Sep 2023
Archives insight: A Plymouth doctor's gallantry
The Box is currently remembering the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the NHS through telling the story of the courage and self-sacrifice of Dr Alison Jean McNairn (afterwards Jesson) in our Active Archives gallery.
History - Jun 2023
Archives insight: Refugee Week 2023 - Meet the Huguenots
For this year's 'Refugee Week' we're looking at the story of the Huguenots - French Protestants who took refuge in some of our towns and cities, including Plymouth, in the late 1600s. They brought a range of valuable skills with them and introduced the word ‘refugee’ into the English language.
History - Jun 2023
Archives insight: A dream of a new life overseas
Have you been watching the BBC's latest historical drama 'Ten Pound Poms'? This image from our archives shows a family about to embark on the scheme that saw over a million people try and make their homes in Australia.
Press Release - Mar 2023
60 years of television history digitised and preserved for the public in libraries across the UK
The Box is delighted to be part of BFI Replay – a UK-wide initiative that is offering free access to 60 years of screen history in libraries across the country.
History - Mar 2023
Raising a glass to World Poetry Day 2023
Last year we received a typescript copy of an anonymous poem into our archives. It describes a pub crawl around Devonport and is believed to have been written in the 1930s.
Press Release - Mar 2023
The King of Football: Pelé’s shirt to go on display at The Box 50 years after he played in Plymouth
Pelé’s iconic number 10 football shirt, worn when he played at Home Park 50 years ago on 14 March 1973, is going on display at The Box from next Tuesday.
Press Release - Feb 2023
Portrait of ‘bloody finery’ and ‘plundered treasures’ to go on display at The Box
An iconic painting of a famous Tudor monarch is set to be unveiled at The Box this Saturday (11 February).
Press Release - Jan 2023
The Boer War
The second Boer War of 1899-1902 is a conflict probably few of us know much about. It lies just beyond living memory yet has left a permanent imprint on Plymouth in monuments of stone.
History - Dec 2022
John Foulston and the Plymouth Proprietary Library
The Plymouth Proprietary Library is an active subscription library founded in 1810. Known as the Plymouth Public Library until 1881, here we explore the history of its architecture and its connection with leading English architect John Foulston.
History - Nov 2022
To Australia via Plymouth: A Tale of Cornish Migration
Between 1840 and 1900, just over 430,000 British people passed through Plymouth, seeking a new life overseas. Some travelled with hope, some with trepidation. All had a long journey ahead of them. The majority were travelling to Australia and New Zealand. Canada, America and South Africa were also popular destinations. The Plymouth Government Emigration Depot which helped many of them is the subject of a display case in our Active Archives gallery this autumn.
News - Nov 2022
Archive insight: The digital preservation world moves on
Part of the Media Archive team’s responsibility at The Box is digital preservation. A large part of that is ensuring that digital file formats and storage mediums are 'current', so that precious archive files are safe and useable. Nothing sits still for long! A recent project has seen us embrace the 'Movage' as we ‘ingested’ (a delightful term) 35 terabytes of data, made up of nearly 3,000 digital video files to our digital archive store.