Annual Impact Report 2024-25
Introduction
By Tamsin Bookey, Heritage Manager
“A particularly busy year on Bancroft Road saw the launches of two major new exhibitions: Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003 – which was also published as a book - and Communities of Liberation: African peoples in London’s East End, 1567-1802.
Many free public events were programmed to tie in with these exhibitions alongside our regular workshops for schools and other groups. There was a 49% increase in the number of people attending our public programme compared to the previous year!
Behind the scenes, some amazing archives were transferred to us for permanent preservation, ranging from the constituency papers of former Stepney MP Peter Shore to documentation of the borough’s first ever Trans+ Pride event. We scored 95% in the biannual survey of archive visitors and added nearly 14,000 records to the online catalogue.
1622 people visited the Reading Room this year to carry out research, an increase of 24% on the previous year – likely a knock-on benefit of the popularity of the two exhibitions mentioned above. Huge thanks as always to our staff and volunteers for their efforts to make local history and our collections visible and relevant to as many people as possible. The work continues!”
Key Highlights
Survey of Visitors to Archives 2024
Between October and December 2024 we took part in the Archives and Records Association of the UK & Ireland (ARA) Survey of Visitors to Archives, which asked visitors to our reading room to rate our service delivery. ARA is the leading professional body for the record-keeping sector.
Archives all over the UK took part, and we are very proud that our visitors rated us highly, with an overall rating of our archive of 9.5/10!
The findings also showed that:
- 97% of our visitors were satisfied or very satisfied with their research experience
- 88% found that access to online resources was good or very good
- 87% were very satisfied with the welcome they received
- The availability of our staff was scored 10/10
- The attitude of our staff was scored 9/10
We would like to thank everyone who took the time to complete the survey.
Communities of Liberation exhibition launch
The Communities of Liberation exhibition went on display in the Grocers Wing of the Tower Hamlets Town Hall during March 2025. This pioneering exhibition showcases stories from some of the more than a thousand Africans who lived in the borough during the period of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, and the creative responses of a group of local residents.
There was also an extensive events programme which took place at the Town Hall and other venues across the borough, including:
Communities of Liberation: talk & stall at Tower Hamlets Town Hall, Whitechapel
Marking the end of Black History Month, we held a stall at the council's Black Excellence in Business event in the Town Hall’s Grocers Wing. Genova Messiah and Tony T also gave a short presentation of work-in-progress on the Communities of Liberation project.
Black History Month talks about the stories revealed in the Communities of Liberation project
Research & Engagement Lead delivered talks throughout October at local venues, including
- Columbia Road Youth Centre
- Cubitt Town Library
- Urban Adventure Base Youth Centre
- Age UK East London
Other exhibition events included:
- A stall celebrating International Women’s Day at the Town Hall
- CACATH (Caribbean & African Community Association Tower Hamlets) Community Conversation & Health Event
- Collage & The Archive, a workshop led by artist Holly Graham
Links to project blog updates, audio content featuring interviews and creative pieces from the exhibition plus our East End History in an Object podcast episodes can be found here on our website.
Launch of new podcast: East End History in An Object
We launched a new podcast series called East End History in an Object. You can listen to our first two episodes here.
To tie in with our Communities of Liberation project, the first episode focused on a daybook of baptisms in our collection - one kept by the church of St George-in-the-East. The timespan covers 1786-1790, a period when many Black people from North America and the Caribbean came to London after Britain’s defeat in the American War of Independence.
The podcast was conceived, produced and edited by Genova Messiah, Learning & Engagement Officer.
Publication of Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003 exhibition book
In December 2024 we were very proud to have published an expanded book version of our popular exhibition Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003.
The 68 full colour A4 pages include articles by Alan Dein, Andrew Lewis and lead curator Robert Jones. It also includes the key to ‘who's who’ in the exhibition poster and book cover.
We would like to especially credit designer Andy Hemming for his brilliant work, and our local history librarian Robert Jones for an epic research, writing and editing job.
Copies are available here at the library, or at all good book retailers, ISBN: 978-1-0369-0612-2
New street signage for our building
In February 2025, new eye-catching signage was erected outside the building, making it easier for people to find us. We immediately saw results, with a definite uptick in visitor numbers.
Loan of collection item to The Lost Gardens of London exhibition at The Garden Museum
We were very happy to loan the Garden Museum an original cutting from The Graphic newspaper for their exhibition The Lost Gardens of London. The cutting was an illustration of ‘The Public Garden of the Brewers’ Company at Stepney – 1884"
The exhibition was curated by landscape designer and historian Todd Longstaff-Gowan.
It was open between 23 October 2024 - 3 March 2025 and attracted 13,057 visitors with an average of 115 visitors per day.
Stocktake closure
We were closed to visitors between Monday 24 February and Friday 7 March whilst staff carried out vital annual stocktaking and work on our collections including:
- Re-housing our smaller museum collections in acid free tissue paper to ensure items are protected in the long term
- Surveying the size and condition of boxed and bound collections with a view to their packaging requirements
- Stocktaking the boxes and volumes on strongroom shelves for location control
The year in numbers
Reading room and remote enquiries
- 7,076 items produced (1,715 archive, 5,361 library)
- 1,622 reading room visitors
- 781 new reading room user registrations
- 1,862 remote enquiries
- 441 new sign-ups to our newsletter
Collections, cataloguing and volunteers
- 13,905 archive and named image collections catalogue descriptions completed and released
- 213 linear shelf metres of archives catalogued
- 70 GB digital named image and archive items catalogued
- 640.7 staff and volunteer hours spent on cataloguing archive collections
- 105,898 online catalogue page views
- 17 volunteers and placements
- 792.8 total volunteer and placements hours worked
Outreach and events
- 10 school workshops given for 289 Tower Hamlets school pupils
- 2 large scale onsite exhibitions launched with 17 associated events attracting a total of 3,288 visitors
- 1 large scale offsite exhibition launched with 10 associated events attracting 345 attendees
- 81 non-school / non-exhibition events & workshops held – 4 online, 54 onsite, 23 offsite, with 1,974 attendees
Social media
- X/Twitter: 8K followers, 8.3K posts
- Instagram: 2,922 followers, 606 posts
- Facebook: 2K followers
- YouTube: 16K channel subscribers, 47 videos
Archives News
New addition to the collection
A Plan of an Estate situate in the Parish of St Mary White Chapel belonging to Messrs. Buckleys Esqrs. Survey'd and Delineated by Joseph Manning, 1747
We were very pleased to acquire a unique hand-coloured 1747 plan of Whitechapel via an online auction.
It gives much detail on street layout and use of premises, and is available to consult in our Reading Room (ref: P/BUC/1).
The following streets in Whitechapel are shown:
- Buckley Street (later Buckle Street)
- Church Lane (later Commercial Road East)
- Colchester Street (later Braham Street)
- Lead House Yard (later site of Camperdown Street)
- Little Aliff Lane (Little Alie Street, became Alie Street)
- Plough Street (Plough or Plow Street)
- Quiet Row (or Were Row, renamed Nelson Street c.1810; later Beagle Street in 1893 and enlarged as Braham Street in 1964-1966)
- Red Lyon Street (Red Lion Street - later became Leman Street)
The plan also shows ale houses, bricklayers yard, carpenters yard, coach houses, skittle grounds, stables, sugar houses, gardens and more.
Other Archive highlights
As selected by Richard Wiltshire, our Archives Manager:
Newly catalogued collections:
- Records of The Liberty of The Tower 1797 – 1852 (L/TOL)
Records of the Liberty's Court House, Well Close Square of Wellclose Precinct and parts of Manor of East Smithfield in Parish of St Botolph without Aldgate in the Liberty of the Tower of London, kept by William Green, High Constable of Tower Hamlets and later by his son in law A A H Brown: including sacrament oaths on parchment and two rate books
- Papers of William Jack (Bill) Fishman 1907-2007 (P/FIS)
Photographs of East End walks, and research papers relating to 19 Princelet Street and Battle of Cable Street. We would like to thank The Bishopsgate Institute for transferring these papers to us.
- Records of the Progressive Youth Organisation (S/PYO)
Photographs by Mayar Akash taken of various Bengali community and youth events, including 'Kobi Nazrul School Summer Project', 'Brick Lane Festival', 'BD 25 Trafalgar Square'.
- London Borough of Tower Hamlets: Building Control files (L/THL/D/2/1)
All descriptions to over 8,200 files about works to building including plans, from 1850s-2010 are now available on our online catalogue. Some files are by appointment
- Records of the Soutter Family, Lower Shadwell, ship-owners (P/SOU/12)
Pocket diaries of Richard Coombes Soutter, 1849-1863
- Records of Patricia Mary 'Patty' Singleton, 2003-2013 (P/SIN)
Minutes of meeting, correspondence, reports, photos and Parliamentary papers kept by Patty Singleton as Secretary of Kempton Court Residents' Association and Agent for the petitioners against the Crossrail Bill. They cover issues relating to concerns over noise and pollution due to the construction of the new Whitechapel line brought by local residents and businesses.
New accessions
It was a bumper year for broadening the scope of our collections. Here are highlights of new collections which we hope to make available to the public in due course:
- Image collection of Darren Jakobsen, youth worker and photographer (TH/10510)
Photographs and posters including anti-racist demonstrations
- Records of The Dockland Settlements (TH/10540)
Correspondence, reports, event papers, photographs and printed material. Includes Chapel of the Good Shepherd register of baptisms, 1930-1975.
- Records of Mallinson Denny Group, timber and veneer merchants and panel manufacturers (TH/10553, TH/10602)
Business records including photographs and slides of offices, events and products, printed material including product advertising scrapbook, histories; Also Chairman/Director's correspondence of Stuart S Mallinson and Terence Stuart Mallinson (1929-2019), stock book, staff registers, product bulletins, history and other printed material, artwork for advertising, photograph albums, 35mm slides, film reels, video cassettes and other records.
- Papers of Peter Shore MP (TH/10573)
Labour Party papers and constituency correspondence with local people and about cases arranged into periods of office, by type of case or subject, 1959-1998. These were transferred from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
- Records of Tower Hamlets Trans+ Pride (TH/10624)
Tower Hamlets' first ever Trans+ Pride, 15 February 2025: printed material, digital records including social media and photographs, banner and publicity
Local Studies Library News
Bethnal Green cuttings collection catalogued
When Tower Hamlets Local History Library was established after the merger of the three boroughs in 1965, we inherited a large collection of newspaper cuttings from Bethnal Green Library.
Organised alphabetically by subject, these press clippings were diligently collated by library staff during the early to mid-twentieth century but while available to researchers in our Reading Room, were never catalogued.
Thanks to the efforts of volunteers, a spreadsheet listing the subjects in the collection and their date ranges was created, and these descriptions are now available to search in our online catalogue.
To browse the full list of all 1,540 subjects covered in the Bethnal Green cuttings, head to the Advanced Search page of our online catalogue and enter LCXBG* in the Reference Number field. The collection is particularly strong on notable local people, about whom we may not hold much information elsewhere.
Philip Mernick Postcard Collection catalogued
These digital scans of vintage postcards come from the collection of Philip Mernick of the East London History Society, who kindly allowed us to make them available to the public as part of our digital collections.
They show various historical views of many places in the borough, including:
- street scenes across the area of Tower Hamlets
- parks and buildings of interest (churches, hospitals, schools, public houses etc.)
- riverside and market views
- portraits and commemorative postcards of notable people & events.
Most of the postcards were published in the late Victorian and Edwardian eras and feature black & white photographs. They provide a fascinating glimpse into the recent past of Tower Hamlets.
Detailed descriptions of the images are now available to search on our online catalogue arranged in 6 numbered albums (PM/1 – PM/6), and the images can be viewed from a USB drive in our public reading room.
Other Library highlights
As selected by Robert Jones, our Local Studies Librarian:
Relocation of trade directories and redistribution of book stock
Our large collection of London trade and street directories dating from 1805 to 1991 have moved from the shelves in the public reading room to their new home in the microfilm corridor. This has freed up space to allow our book collection to both grow and be easier to navigate.
Book sale
As part of our ongoing program of maximising our existing storage space, we held another of our ever-popular book sales on 7 December. This not only freed up a whole bay of extra storage by selling off duplicate books and pamphlets but also raised £746.60 for new stock purchases. The event also served as the launch for our exhibition tie-in book Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003.
Illustrated London News
A rare collection of 142 original hardbound volumes of the Illustrated London News dating from 1842-1914 have been moved from an inaccessible storage location on our top floor to our main newspaper sequence. These have now been catalogued and are available to consult in our Reading Room and can be used in future exhibitions and outreach events.
1,679 new library items on a variety of local topics were catalogued into our collections
Among them were:
- 1,540 cuttings folders
- 84 books and pamphlets
- 7 serials
- 6 maps
- 3 audio items
- 3 computer resources
Some new book acquisitions included:
- Dark Luminosity: Memoirs of a Geezer by Jah Wobble (2024)
- In the footsteps of the East London Group: reflections on the works of the East London Group by painters of the contemporary urban landscape by Alan Waltham, Ferha Farooqui, Frank Creber and the Nunnery Gallery (2024)
- British Bangladeshi Muslims in the East End: the changing landscape of dress and language by Fatima Rajina (2024)
- Market Day by Paul Trevor (2024)
- Modernist Council Housing 1946-1981: London Estates by Thaddeus Zupancic (2024)
- Endurance & Joy in the East End 1971-1987 by David Hoffman (2024)
- East India Company Spice Wars Stories: an anthology of historical fiction inspired by the early 17th-century European craze for Asian spices (2024)
- Tales of Old Ford, Bow by Carolyn Clark (2025)
Top Ten subjects of books and pamphlets consulted
In the last year, these were the subjects most requested by our readers (according to the local studies library classification scheme):
- Ethnic Groups, migrants, race relations
- Associations, institutions, social and youth clubs, community centres, settlements
- Town planning & improvements
- Housing
- Stepney
- London
- Manufacturing
- Education
- Biographies
- Places of Worship
Digitisation projects
Over the last year we have begun work on digitising items from our library and archive collections to make them more accessible to the public. We have also facilitated digitisation projects for other organizations.
The first phase of our newspaper digitisation project is now complete. All issues of the East London Advertiser published between 1960 and 2003 (barring a gap between 1996 and 1999) are now available as fully searchable PDFs in our Reading Room
Here are some other examples of the projects started in 2024-25:
- Annual reports and other selected items from the Oxford House archive collection, I/OXF, digitised as part of an Oxford House heritage project
- Photograph albums and building plans from our archive collection of Brady Clubs, S/BRA, digitised by The Bradian Trust
- Microfilmed archive material originally scanned by the Church of the Latter-Day Saints in the 1960s including Bow Poor Rate books
- A project headed by Rachel Lichtenstein concentrating on digitising volumes of Loshen un Leben (‘Language and Life’), a monthly Yiddish literary magazine series edited by A. N. Stencl from 1941 to 1979 took place over several sessions held in May and June 2024. Digital copies of the magazine will be deposited with us at the project’s end.
Collaborations & partnerships
We continued to work closely with community groups, activists, repositories and other organisations to produce a varied programme of events for the public.
Here are a few highlights of the many collaborations our Learning & Participation Officers helped deliver in the past year:
Whitechapel Stories: Developing a mural inspired by history
We were pleased to be asked to support this new project, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
We facilitated research to gather some of Whitechapel’s remarkable stories to use them to create a new heritage mural on Sidney Street.
A series of eight weekly workshops, guided walks, and online research sessions were held.
To shape their ideas for the new mural, participants used old maps, photographs, newspapers and other historical records to explore how the neighbourhood and the diverse communities who have made their home here developed over the years.
The project was co-led by Jane Austin, the Secretary of John’s Place Tenants’ and Residents’ Association in Whitechapel and Graham Barker, a walk guide with a keen interest in East End history. Richard Wiltshire, our Archives Manager. Sanjida Alam and Genova Messiah, Engagement and Learning Officers provided additional support.
Changemakers of East London youth project
A National Archives engagement grant allowed us to partner with Studio Futurall to host three Changemakers of The East End zine making workshops.
These were created by a group of 18-25 years old East Enders who connected with archive materials dealing with the stories of people from Tower Hamlets making changes, locally and nationally.
The aims of the project were to:
- Connect people to their local area and communities
- Meet other young people with shared interests
- Develop historical research and design skills
- Expand professional networks and make valuable connections
Reimagining History Through Speculative Fiction: 3-part workshop
These workshops focused on the history of activism and community organizing in East London, and how this material holds the seeds of futures yet to be written. The events were hosted by archivists and organisers from Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives and MayDay Rooms, as well as writers and lecturers from Queen Mary, University of London.
Participants investigated the archives of both Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives and MayDay Rooms, working with selected materials to reimagine and reconstruct histories using creative writing practices to make their own speculative fictions and radical counter-realities.
Uncovering the Archive is a free programme for young people (18-25) on archives and archiving developed by MayDay Rooms in collaboration with other radical spaces, groups and people in London.
In the footsteps of the East London Group – mixed media art workshop
Expanding on themes from Bow Arts' exhibition, Bow Arts, Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives staff and participants delved into the archives to gain a deeper understanding of the historical, social, and political contexts linked to the sites and buildings featured in some of the East London Group’s most iconic paintings.
Using a range of creative mediums, they worked closely with selected archival materials mapping out their own mixed-media heritage walks through collaging, drawing, sketching, mark making and photocopying source materials.
This re-interpretation of the archives connected the dots between places in the paintings of the East London Group and the streets and scenes of the east London we know today.
Black History Month 2024: Caring for Your Collections with The New Black Film Collective & London’s Screen Archives
Our Engagement and Learning Officer Genova Messiah worked together with The New Black Film Collective and London’s Screen Archives to present an evening of films from the 1970s-2000s filmed in Tower Hamlets on the themes of love, community, protest and racism.
The event also explored why it is important to protect and preserve your own personal collections with a workshop on how to care for your documents, photos and films (digital, VHS, super 8mm etc).
It was produced as part of the Undocumented project, delivered with the support of the BFI, National Lottery Funding, and Tower Hamlets Council.
Other notable projects
We also collaborated on the East End Stories Bengali photo archive project with Four Corners, held a workshop on Activism and Allyship at Rich Mix and another for the Brit-Bangla Heritage Fest: Dhamail
Access & Engagement: Exhibitions
We staged two large scale exhibitions over the 2024-25 period, drawing on two very different strands of Tower Hamlets history.
What We Have Become: Archival breaks, gaps and silences
26 March – 1 June 2024
Curated by ceramicist Basil Olton, the group exhibition What We Have Become showcased the work of five visual artists (Rudy Loewe, Holly Graham, Diensen Pamben, Kelly Wu and Basil Olton) exploring the impact of local and colonial archives on personal and collective identity.
The works explored the impacts of silence and erasure in archival records created and kept by the British state about people of colour, and how the destruction of such archival records may be reproduced as a rupture in the sense of self, identity, and belonging.
Along with the display, there was an events programme including:
- Archival Silence, Gaps and Breaks Artist Talk Q+A, an online discussion available to watch on our YouTube channel
- A clay ceramics workshops for adults and children run by Basil Olton
- Sessions for pupils at St Paul's Way Trust school
- A collaborative community response to the work. produced by Nurull Islam of Mile End Community Project
The exhibition attracted over 300 visitors and 112 people attended the events programme.
Cockney Rebels – Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003
21 June 2024 - 21 February 2025
Curated by Local Studies Librarian Robert Jones, and featuring over a hundred rare items selected by staff from our collections, Cockney Rebels: Popular Music in Tower Hamlets, 1624-2003 was a major exhibition exploring how our borough has produced an extraordinary musical legacy, spanning everything from folk songs and sea shanties to music hall, jazz, punk, the Asian underground and grime.
The exhibition events programme included:
- Anarchy in the East End – conversation with local punk legends Jah Wobble and Suresh Singh
- The Petticoat Lane Foxtrot, a talk by broadcaster and author Alan Dein
- "As I was a-walking down Ratcliff Highway" – an East End street in traditional folk song with former LBTH Borough Archivist Malcolm Barr-Hamilton
- East End Music On Film, 1963-1975 – screenings of music videos and film excerpts hosted by Bea Moyes
- The Life & Times of the Music Hall and Marie Lloyd – a talk by Danny Wells
- A special East End History Club audio listening Session
- Secrets from the Cockney Yiddish Music Hall – a talk by musician and author Vivi Lachs
- Cockney Revels – a closing event featuring a performance from fab 1980’s acapella group The Mint Juleps, who reunited for one night only for the occasion!
The exhibition attracted 2,302 visitors and 573 people attended the events programme. A book of the exhibition was published in December 2024 and has proved a very popular seller.
First floor landing exhibitions
We also presented several smaller exhibitions on the first floor of the building, in partnership with individuals and organisations that connect with our mission of preserving the history of the borough.
In the past year we had the honour of showing:
Illuminating the Archive: a Book of Hours for Robin Hood Gardens
1 June – 25 July 2024
This exhibition by Judit Ferencz , an illustrator and art and architectural historian, explored the architectural and historical value of a building in the context of the time it takes to form a community.
Judit’s drawings of everyday life on the Robin Hood Gardens estate in the years immediately prior to its demolition were presented alongside the architects’ designs in the form of a series of handmade books and booklets, as a modern interpretation of the late medieval prayer book The Book of Hours.
Judit also co-hosted an online Artists’ talk with architectural historian Peter Guillery exploring the relation between the archive and Judit's onsite works at the Robin Hood Gardens estate leading up to the demolition
Poplarism: Poplar Rates Rebellion – a response
August-September 2024
This exhibition, curated especially for the first floor landing space at Tower Hamlets History Library and Archives by local artist Clare Smith was a response to the events and themes of the Poplar Rates Rebellion of 1921. Alongside her artwork there were selections of archival material from our collections exploring this history of defiance by local politicians and social reformers in Poplar.
Wh’Appen? Black Music in Tower Hamlets, 1970-1999
October 2024 – March 2025
This display of collections at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives explored the intersection between space, place, fashion, and music in Tower Hamlets' Black music scene. Through youth clubs, bands, blues/shebeens (house parties), festivals, record shops and pubs, we uncovered the diverse ways people recollect Black music in the borough from 1970-1999.
With contribution and research from local residents Keira Blasse and Nick Friday, this exhibition narrated an intimate story of joy through Black music culture and heritage in Tower Hamlets.
Access & Engagement: Events & Workshops: highlights
“The archives have been a wonderful space to learn, meet community and engage with archival material. The events programmes have been fundamental to my own research. Shout out to Sanjida!” – event participant feedback
Besides the exhibitions, our Learning & Participation officers facilitated over 60 other onsite events and workshops, attracting over 1,000 visitors. Here are some highlights:
Parent/Carer and Under 5’s Club
We redesigned our East End History Club especially for parents and carers to attend with their little ones, this year hosting six sessions.
It's a chance to meet other parents, enjoy a cuppa and browse our collection of heritage materials, including maps, photographs, newspapers, which illustrate the amazing history of London's famous East End. Toys for children aged 0-5 are provided, along with a mini kiddie brunch, and tea, coffee and biscuits for the adults.
Ijaw People's Association Heritage project and book launch
This event celebrated the launch of a publication that documents the history and heritage of Ijaw people in London.
The Ijaw (Izon) people are from the Niger Delta region of southern Nigeria, with a substantial community living across London.
The early Ijaw community established their roots in Tower Hamlets with the purchase of a building in Mile End that provided a communal gathering space for pastoral care and cultural occasions.
The project, Immigrant to citizen: the Ijaw (Izon) people of London from the earliest times to the present is funded by The National Heritage Lottery and documents many of these early Ijaws, who arrived from the 1930s in Tower Hamlets, through oral history interviews and written testimonies. We are very pleased to be taking in the materials generated by the project for permanent preservation.
Narratives of Time project launch
This new project, launched in February 2025 at the Brady Arts & Community Centre seeks to capture the rich evolutionary history of Bangla Natok (Bengali drama) in East London through oral history and research. It will explore theatre, storytelling, playwriting, and community progression in East London from 1963 to 2013.
Project participants will explore how small group of people kept Bengali drama alive when they first migrated to London, and community experiences such as racism, decline of local industries, the closure of the docks, resistance, and rising unemployment.
500 Years of Irish Women in Tower Hamlets
In the long history of London, the city’s oldest and largest foreign presence comprised people born in Ireland and those of Irish descent .
Breda Corish’s talk explored the underrepresented histories of women of Ireland in Tower Hamlets, from an Irish noblewoman living in the sixteenth-century Tower of London to the twentieth-century daughter of Irish immigrant workers on the Isle of Dogs, via lodging-house keepers, Famine refugees, nuns, strike leaders, suffragettes and local politicians.
Other workshops held included:
- University College London Archaeology group workshop
- A film screening for members of the University of the Third Age
- Brick Lane Circle: Empire Walks workshop
At the Idea Stores
During 2024-25, staff at Tower Hamlets Local History Library & Archives facilitated:
- Two onsite Idea Store staff induction visits
- An Ancestry website workshop for Get Online Week at Idea Store Whitechapel
- A Cockney Rebels exhibition tour for members of the Cubitt Town Library Prime Time over 50s group
- Idea Store Learning Tour Guiding for Intermediates
Access & Engagement: Education
10 onsite school workshops were held last year with 289 Tower Hamlets school pupils participating. Genova Messiah, our Engagement and Learning Officer writes:
“The most requested sessions for 2024-25 were those exploring our collections around the First and Second World Wars, which had several KS2 Year 6 classes visiting the archive. Pupils looked at a variety of original records relating to the World Wars including ration books, maps, photographs, evacuation letters and conscription lists.”
“Several local schools returned for another of our most popular school sessions ‘Migration, Exploration & Colonisation’.”
“We continued our collaborative work with the Tower Hamlets Schools Library Service, to deliver five new sessions for the ‘This is our history’ project. Two of these sessions, which were delivered to KS2 classes focused on the Jewish community and African Caribbean sailors in the East End. Pupils looked at records documenting the migration history of Jewish people from the 1800s and African Caribbean sailors from the 1600s.”
Access & Engagement: Stalls, tours & visits
Stalls
Our travelling stall, featuring publications, educational aids and information about our service offers could be sighted at many events within the borough last year. 660+ people dropped by to say hello and learn about what we do at the following locations:
- The 2024 WriteIdea Festival at the Town Hall
- The Friends of Island History Trust Open Day
- Ben Jonson School Careers Day
- The Bangladesh Victory Day Mela at Mulberry Community Centre
- Tower Hamlets Inter Faith Week: at the Town Hall
Group visits, tours & workshops
We also continued to provide visits, tours and workshop for various groups and organisations, including:
- 6 group visits from LBTH council departments
- 6 group visits of students from Queen Mary, UCL & London Metropolitan universities
- 1 Brick Lane Circle “Empire Walks” workshop
- 1 activism & allyship workshop for Rich Mix
- 1 group visit from a Wapping residents housing association
- 1 workshop for organisers of the Dhamail Brit-Bangla Heritage Fest
- 2 group visits for staff from The London Archives
- 1 East End Connections research session
- 1 Tower Pride LGBTQ+ workshop
How Well Did We Do? Feedback from our users
In the Reading Room
- “Brilliant staff and fantastic archive. Thanks!!”
- “Thank you so much for your warm welcome and exceptional support during our visit to the archives this morning. We truly appreciate the time you took to answer our questions and guide us through the materials.
Your expertise and enthusiasm were invaluable, and we left feeling very inspired to continue our research.”
- “In June this year my cousin and I visited the Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives to research our family history. We hoped to find photographs of the road and area where we had grown up. We were not disappointed. The staff were so helpful, and the archives so well organised that within minutes we were presented with a pile of photographs to inspect. Imagine our delight when we found photos of not only my father but my cousin as a young girl. There were even more treasures that came to light, and we were able to identify homes and add some extra historical details to our family’s life “
- “I wanted to find some historical photos of the Whitechapel area ranging from the 1930’s to 1960’s for a gentleman living in the borough suffering with Dementia. I visited the library in person and met Richard the Borough Archivist. He brought out a big box of the most amazing photos from the dates I requested. Also he recommend some amazing picture books of Whitechapel. I wanted to thank him for being so kind and interested in the person I was buying this for and helping me, it made the family’s day handing over the photos and books, bringing back memories”
Remote enquiries
- “Wow that was such a prompt response and very helpful!”
- “Thanks so much for getting back to me once again with this information. I honestly would have never found this information without your help.”
- “Thank you so much. I was just about to give up the search . "Good old Bancroft Library!
- “Thank you so much for all the information. This is absolutely brilliant - plenty for me to work through.”
Exhibitions
- “Excellent exhibition! Excellent works. Congratulations to everyone, especially to the curator Basil” – What We Have Become
- “Loved this exhibition - each piece so insightful, tender and touching– What We Have Become
- “Nice exhibition, the maps and old papers are particularly interesting. Thank you all!” – What We Have Become
- ”This is my third visit. We stayed 2 ½ hours by the nostalgic exhibits. It is the most enthralling exhibition of reminiscences I have ever attended amongst thousands in my 84 years” – Cockney Rebels
- “Lovely exhibition on local music! Very much enjoyed the content and layout” – Cockney Rebels
- “I'd just like to say a massive thank you for last night's Cockney Rebel event.
The exhibits, discussion, quizzes and performance by The Mint Juleps were outstanding. I haven't enjoyed myself so much in such a long time. All your staff were so welcoming and friendly.” – Cockney Rebels