First archive centre to combine university and local authority records

New Hull History Centre

The Hull History Centre opened to the public yesterday, January 25th. It is the result of a joint project between the University of Hull and Hull City Council to combine their archives into one purpose-built centre. The project was mostly funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Bringing together material held by Hull City Archives, Hull Local Studies Library and Hull University Archives, the centre is the first in the country to combine university and local authority archives.
The centre notably holds the city’s 13th-century Royal Charter, records relating to the port and docks of Hull, to local and national politics and pressure groups such as Liberty, as well as family and local history archives and over 100,000 photographs, illustrations, maps and newspapers. Other highlights of the collection include the hand-written poems of Philip Larkin (1922-1985), who was the librarian of the University of Hull for thirty years, letters to his parents, his duffle-coat and glasses, as well as documents relating to the pioneering aviator Amy Johnson (1903-1941), who was born in Kingston upon Hull, and to the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce (1759-1833), who was also a native of Kingston upon Hull.

Hull History Centre
Worship Street
Hull HU2 8BG
Telephone: 01482 317500
http://www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk/


Mona Lisa Mystery: Was Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa a disguised self-portrait?
According to an article by Murray Wardrop in The Telegraph, researchers from Italy’s National Committee for Cultural Heritage have recently reached an agreement with French cultural authorities to exhume the remains of Leonardo da Vinci in effort to uncover the true identity of the Mona Lisa. Leonardo da Vinci is buried in the chapel of Saint-Hubert at Amboise Castle in the Loire valley. Scientists wish to study the artist’s skull in order to recreate his face and compare it to the Mona Lisa.

State parliamentarians in Germany to be checked for Stasi affiliation
Last Thursday, January 21st, the parliament for the German state of Brandenburg passed a law requiring that all state parliamentarians be checked for past affiliation with the Stasi. Brandenburg was the last of the five former communist states to do so. The ruling comes after a series of revelations that several members of the state parliament newly elected last September had collaborated with the East German secret police prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Read the article published on Spiegel Online.