Did you know that we can offer high-quality scans of our and your own documents? .Our Cambridgeshire Archives’ FSB Scanning Bureau specialises in the digitisation of historical documents, artefacts and photographs, 35mm slides, glass plate negatives and volumes.

We have 2,940 of the society’s case files here, and Laura has used them to study the geographical spread of family arrangements, health issues and other circumstances across 19th century Cambridge, creating maps plotting the occupations and ages of those who appear in the files.

📢Event klaxon!.Our wonderful former AA Laura is giving a talk on the fascinating Cambridge Charity Organisation Society at the Museum of Cambridge on Thursday 14th August 2025 at 1pm.

"Dear Charlie,.I am sending you this card just to make you envious while you slog at work. I have been on this river 4 times in 2 days, so I keep cool.". I wonder what Charlie's reply said.

On this day in 1925, a gentleman named Bert sent this idyllic postcard to Charlie Allett of 36 Westwood Street, Peterborough. However, what makes this postcard stand out is not the beauty of the image, but the witty message on the back.

Prophecies made in the 1600s (in Cottenham). It was a surprise to discover a list of prophecies in between some baptism and burial entries for Cottenham for the year 1620, 1622-1630 (not sure why 1621 is skipped). Can you read the prophecy for 1929 and 1930?.[Doc ref. P50/1/3]

The recording of the time of birth appears randomly but for a few Cropley baptisms. The recording of the hour of birth seems to have ended in 1608.

The earliest recording of this appears in the Cambridge St. Clement baptism of 1597 for Debora Cropley daughter of Thomas born Wednesday 20 1597 about 7 o’clock in the afternoon.

A baptism register can occasionally record the date of birth, which is always a bonus. However, it is very rare to see a record of the hour of birth, especially as early as the 1500s. [Doc ref. P27/1/2]

📢EVENT📢. Our 'Step Into Nature' event is taking place this Saturday, please do book and come along. Every booking helps towards preserving these records and future outreach events.

We can digitally restore images and provide you with a digital copy leaving the original untouched. Prices start at £8.90 for a single item up to A3 size. Email us: fsb@cambridgeshire.gov.uk.

RT @DrFrancisYoung: It's appalling how little we pay archivists, when they never know if they'll have to turn a page and deal with 21 year-….

Interestingly, there’s also a very old piece of cat food taped to one of the pages! We’ve occasionally found flowers pressed between the pages of old books before, but never cat food so this one is entirely new to us.

The journal contains journal entries written by the children, along with a few drawings and photographs. Ted seems to have had a great time: he visited a farm, went on a picnic, had a day-trip to London and watched a lot of football

Every now and again we receive a new accession that throws up an unexpected surprise!. This journal came in recently from a local primary school. It was used to record the adventures of a class teddy bear, who was sent home with a different student each week.

Subsequently, 11 Huntingdonshire Policemen were injured in the execution of their duties. The injuries, outlined in this document include “being struck senseless”, “stoned for some time” and “burnt on hand and leg”. On the 20th of July, 8 men were fined for the riots. KPOL1/15/15

On the 4th July 1892, a riot took place around Market Street/Narrow Street in Peterborough during the declaration of the poll. Police from Huntingdonshire were brought in and found themselves being bombarded with these burning barrels by the crowd.

There is further annotation at the very bottom of the page which gives the reason for his long life. Unfortunately, it is very faded. Can you make out what it says?. Ref. P152/1/1.