Nottinghamshire Archives

Title: Nottinghamshire Archives

Description: Nottinghamshire Archives houses archive material relating to the county of Nottinghamshire and the City of Nottingham, including official, public and privately owned archives. In total there are some 5 miles of documents, ranging from the 12th century to the present. The major categories are:

• Nottinghamshire County Council archives
• Nottingham City Council archives
• Some local Borough and District Council archives
• Parish registers
• Probate records (wills and inventories)
• Poor Law records
• Court records
• Estate and family archives
• Business records
• Records of societies and clubs
• Letters and diaries
• Maps and plans.

With regard to the CASBAH subject areas Nottinghamshire Archives holds the following materials:

Records of Nottingham and District Council for Racial Equality (Ref: DD.CR). This collection comprises 40 boxes of archival material, dated c.1948-1995, and includes minutes, correspondence, reports and news cuttings highlighting issues of immigration, employment, housing and culture for West Indian and other ethnic groups in Nottingham and the surrounding suburbs. (Please note that written authorisation from the Nottingham Race Equality Council is required to view this collection.)

Scattered references to Black and Asian history in the region, 17th-20th century, in various collections , including: Parish register entries for Flintham Parish, Newark, St Mary's Parish (Nottingham) and St Nicholas Parish (Nottingham),dating from 1645 (e.g. 'John Americanus' a 'blackamore' baptised 30 March 1645, Newark Parish); Anti-slavery tracts circulated to churches, c.1784-1823 (Ref: NC/Q 289/1-17); the records and event programmes of cultural and arts organisations in the region (e.g. Papers and programme for Indian Temple dance event, 'Divya Drishi', by the Triveni Dance Company, 1987 (Ref: DD.MA 7/177/1-11)); business records (e.g. Booklet produced by the John Player & Sons, Ltd. (Imperial Tobacco Company) including pictures of African workers with descriptions of their living quarters and conditions of service, c.1950 (Re f: DD.PL 7/4/1)). A printed information sheet, entitled 'References to Black History in Nottinghamshire Archives', provides full details on all the above-mentioned records and is available from Nottinghamshire Archives on request.

Sources on George Africanus in local directories, parish registers, probate documents and local newspapers. For information: George Africanus (d.1834) was originally from Sierra Leone. On gaining his freedom from the Molyneux family of Wolverhampton, he moved to Nottingham, practised several trades, owned property and became a freeholder. Archive references to him include his marriage to Esther Shaw in 1788 (St Peter's church, Nottingham), title deeds for property in Chandler's Lane, Nottingham (Ref: M11043-11057) and his will, proved in 1835 (Ref: PRNW). A printed information sheet, entitled 'George Africanus: Research Sources' is available from Nottinghamshire Archives on request.
Material on the history of Black and Asian people in the region covers the following subject areas, issues and themes: Arts; Economic and social history; Education; Employment; Health; Housing; Law; Migration; Politics; Population demography; Race relations; Religion; Slavery and abolition.

Strengths: The collection on Nottingham and District Community Relations Council (Ref: DD.CR). Also, the strength of Nottinghamshire Archives lies in preserving material relating to Black and Asian history in the county; both pre-20th century and 'post-Windrush' (1948+) material.

Size: Over 40 boxes of archive material.

Catalogue: Printed catalogues.

Catalogue URL:

Main URL: http://www.nottscc.gov.uk/libraries/archives/index.htm

Access: All collections can be consulted in accordance with the set opening hours and documentation production times listed on the Nottinghamshire Archives web site at http://www.nottscc.gov.uk/libraries/archives/index.htm. All the material is reference only. Nottinghamshire Archives is a member of the County Archive Research Network and any readers wishing to consult original archives must obtain a reader's ticket. Acceptable means of identification to obtain a ticket must include name and address, preferably on the same official document.

Acquisition dates: c.1949 - present (covering material dating from the 12th Century to the present day)

Note: Anyone wishing to consult Council for Racial Equality material (Ref: DD.CR) must obtain prior, written authorisation from the Racial Equality Council in Nottingham to gain access to the collection. Contact: Racial Equality Council (Nottingham), 67 Lower Parliament Street, Nottingham NG1 3BB. / Tel: 0115 958 6515.

Interest: Asian, Black, Caribbean

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Social history

Abolition of slavery

Slavery

Migration

Interethnic relations

Ethnic groups

Communities

Personal/Corporate names

Racial Equality Council (Nottingham)

Council for Racial Equality

Americanus, John

Africanus, George, d.1834

Places

Nottingham, United Kingdom

Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom

Jamaica

Caribbean