Research Trip to the Library at Ushaw

On the 25th of March Felicia and Floris drove down to county Durham to once again meet with our partners at Ushaw. This time we had set apart a day in order to spend time researching in the Ushaw library. Not only was it a joy to be able to look at the resources available at Ushaw, it also allowed us to fully appreciate the beautiful historic building the library is housed in.

When we arrived, we met with Megan who led us to the library. Here a number of documents were already laid out for us to get to grips with. All three of us were excited to get started and wasted little time in getting to work with the materials that were there.

After this initial research we branched out to explore the various amazing resources on offer. Though we occasionally got distracted by the many wonderful books in the library, we managed to reconstruct the history of the chocolate pot mentioned in an earlier post. As we aim to make this pot the centre of some of our collaborative projects, we wanted to make sure we were able to fully reconstruct its history. In doing so, we focussed our efforts on the stories that would allow us to link Ushaw, and the surrounding area, to the wider world. Highlighting the stories and objects that make Ushaw part of a network of global movement.

At the end of the day we felt excited about the things we discovered, but very aware that Ushaw has far more to offer that we could ever explore in a single day. We therefore look forward to going back to Ushaw to continue researching the sources available and enjoy the beautiful surroundings. It is great to be able to work closely with our partners and share the excitement about exploring the stories that Ushaw has to offer.