A great visit to the Cornish Studies Library, Redruth, as part of Heart of Conflict today. Kim Cooper, Principal Library Officer, gave a fascinating 'behind the scenes' tour. Kim's obvious enthusiasm and love of her job came through - very inspiring, particularly for the students from Redruth School who have such a keen interest in World War One history. Today's visitors helped to create the amazing Remembrance Room at the school - more here.
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The library houses anything with a link to Cornwall - not just the Camborne/Redruth area. Its oldest book dates from 1602. We went behind the scenes to see the archives.
Kim also showed us how to read archive copies of newspapers on microfiche. Must say I always find these machines tricky - but the students were very quick. Another visitor, Viv Broadhurst from Praze W1 brought a pamphlet that she wanted to research. This proved very useful: the archives are so huge that it's important to have a starting point. The library holds (on microfiche) all copies of the West Briton since 1810 - as well as the Royal Cornwall Gazette, The Cornishman, The Cornubian and The Cornish Post and Mining News
Also on display were various items relating to World War One held by the library: points of inspiration.
I was particularly interested to see this book, which I didn't know about - very useful when researching the background of names on war memorials.
A fantastic book - so detailed and so well researched. Relevant and inspiring for us all - showing how worthwhile it is to make history come alive.
Martine is working in Helston on the town's exhibitions and events to mark the World War One centenary.
