Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies

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Cambridgeshire Archives and Local Studies Service (CALS) is a UK local government institution which collects and preserves archives, other historical documents and printed material relating to the modern county of Cambridgeshire, which includes the former counties of Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely. CALS is part of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Contents

CALS runs two record offices, one at Ely and the other at Huntingdon. Both record offices are recognised by The National Archives as places of deposit for public records, and by the Church of England as repositories for ecclesiastical records.

In addition, CALS also runs three local studies libraries, at Cambridge, Huntingdon and Wisbech, to hold printed and published material.

In 2019 the Cambridge archive was moved from its original home in the basement of Shire Hall in Cambridge to the site of a former bowling alley at The Dock in Ely. [1]

Holdings

Archival holdings held by CALS of national and international significance include:

Barcoding project

In 2006 CALS began a major project to re-box and barcode all of its archival holdings, in preparation to move them to new premises. All of the holdings at Huntingdon were barcoded, repackaged where necessary and then moved to the new Huntingdon Library and Archives Building in June 2009. Barcoding and repackaging work is now underway at Cambridge.

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Cambridgeshire is a county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and Northamptonshire to the west. The city of Cambridge is the county town. Following the Local Government Act 1972 restructuring, modern Cambridgeshire was formed in 1974 through the amalgamation of two administrative counties: Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely, comprising the historic county of Cambridgeshire ; and Huntingdon and Peterborough, comprising the historic county of Huntingdonshire and the Soke of Peterborough, historically part of Northamptonshire. Cambridgeshire contains most of the region known as Silicon Fen.

Huntingdonshire Historic county and region of Cambridgeshire, England

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St Ives, Cambridgeshire Human settlement in England

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Godmanchester Human settlement in England

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Ramsey, Cambridgeshire Human settlement in England

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Bluntisham Village in Cambridgeshire, England

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Covington, Cambridgeshire Human settlement in England

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Somersham Human settlement in England

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Offord Cluny Human settlement in England

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Cromwell Museum Museum in Huntingdon, England

The Cromwell Museum in Huntingdon, England, is a museum containing collections exploring the life of Oliver Cromwell and to a lesser extent his son Richard Cromwell. Oliver Cromwell was born in Huntingdon in 1599 and lived there for more than half his life. The museum is located in the former grammar school building in which Cromwell received his early education. Founded in 1962, the museum contains significant artefacts, paintings and printed material relating to The Protectorate. The museum is currently run as part of a trust dedicated to Oliver Cromwell's legacy and previously by the Cambridgeshire Libraries, Archives and Information Service, part of Cambridgeshire County Council.

Sir Oliver Cromwell

Sir Oliver Cromwell was an English landowner, lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1589 and 1625. He was the uncle of Oliver Cromwell, the Member of Parliament, general, and Lord Protector of England.

The Cambridgeshire Collection is a UK local government institution and part of the Cambridgeshire County Council, Cambridgeshire Libraries Local Studies service. It is housed within Cambridge Central Library It collects printed, published and illustrative material relating to the modern county of Cambridgeshire, which includes the former counties of Huntingdonshire and the Isle of Ely.

References

  1. Curtis, Adrian (25 November 2019). "Cambridgeshire's new £5.3m archives set to open next month". Cambridge Independent. Archived from the original on 8 January 2020. Retrieved 8 January 2020.