Happy New Year from everyone at the Richard Roberts Archive!

Join Richard and the trustee team at the January Open Evening.
View our latest acquisitions, enjoy a slice of cake and catch up with new and old friends alike.
Show your support for the archive by attending - maybe even bring a friend.

Join us for this month’s open evening at the archive.

See - our latest aquisitions

Discover - something new from our trustees

Enjoy - a cup of tea and a slice of cake

Our next monthly open evening will be on Monday 14th February.

Yes, I know it is Valentine’s Day but I like to keep consistency with our regular events.

Hopefully this will not deter too many people from attending so come along, have a coffee and some cake, and take a look at the latest acquisitions.

See you there!

Richard Roberts

During our special post-lockdown open evening we will be showing all the recent finds from September plus a selection of our favourites from the last 14 months.

We are very lucky to have Peter Moss with us to give a special talk called ‘Making of Making a Marque’. Peter Moss and Richard Roberts used The Richard Roberts Archive to draw together hundreds of wonderful examples of promotion and advertising of Rolls-Royce cars for their book, ‘Making a Marque: Rolls-Royce Motor Car Promotion 1904-1940’ which was published earlier this year.

This fascinating talk will discuss how Peter, and co-author Richard Roberts, selected examples for use in their book. 

Already bought a copy of their book? Please bring it along to be signed by Peter and Richard.

Our pop-up ‘Hive Café’ will offer a selection of delicious cakes to enjoy with locally sourced tea and coffee for a small donation to the archive charity.

Entry to this event is free and pre-booking is not required.

Many working-class families bought their first car in the post-war years, especially the 50s, 60s and 70s. While some bought second-hand, the market for new cars blossomed. Motor manufacturers advertised their models as never before. The motor car appeared to be the way of the future: new motorways and bypasses coincided with a state-planned decline in the rail network.

This workshop will look at some of the advertising of the time – the iconic cars such as the Morris Minor, the Mini, and the first Cortina and many more. But more people on the road created bigger issues that had to be addressed: drink-driving, the compulsory wearing of seat belts. Campaigns for these were also promoted widely. Meanwhile, a new market in ‘goodies’ thrived, for example for heaters, which remained an optional extra well into the 60s.

Join us to reminisce about your first motoring trips!

Max 6 participants. BOOKING ESSENTIAL.

As technology and new developments come along then so do the opportunities for this to be applied to advertising copy. From the early days of printing words and pictures using printing blocks and typeset wording through to the modern digital age, we follow the changes in technology through its application in advertising showing items from the archive.

See examples of block printing from the 1850s; beautiful engravings from the late 19th century; the introduction of colour printing and the growth of the commercial artist; its gradual replacement by photography and then the unlimited opportunities for creativity offered by the digital age.

Max 6 participants. BOOKING ESSENTIAL

Be our guest!

For the first time since the national restrictions began in March 2020 we are opening our doors and inviting all our friends to join us for a very special Heritage Open Days ‘Open House’.

SEE our archive collections with guided tours running through the day.

LEARN something new at our workshops in the newly refurbished reading room hosted by our trustees Richard Roberts and Dr Craig Horner.

ENJOY a slice of cake and some delicious locally sourced tea and coffee in our pop-up ‘Hive’.

Booking is required for the workshops as there is a limited number of 6 participants for each session. General admission to the building, including guided tours or to enjoy some tasty treats at our pop-up ‘Hive Café’ is free. Please note, the last tour will take place at 4 pm and our last admission to the building is 4:30 pm.

This event will be hosted in accordance with national Coronavirus government guidelines in force on the day of the event.