Island Archives

24/06/2026

🌡️ Protect Your Records 🌡️

It's hot, hot, hot. Everything is affected by high temperature and humidity, but, the one thing people might not think of is - archives! Here are a few tips that can help protect your precious family photographs, deeds, and documents:

🏠 Storage Location - We know finding storage space is difficult, it is an issue all professional and home archives face. But; attics, greenhouses and sheds are not record friendly! Think like you are storing potatoes; dark, cool, and dry. Home offices or cupboards are a better option. Continued high temperatures damage records and accelerate issues like foxing or fading.

🗃️ Packaging - Lay items flat in solid boxes or files in acid-free envelopes or polyester sleeves (separate newspaper clippings, they are highly acidic and will damage records stored with them!) For photograph albums, it is best not to use the self-adhesive kind. You can buy archival standard packaging off of Amazon, or websites like Preservation Equipment Limited.

🪳 Pests - Booklice, woodworm, silverfish and mice. They are pests that often nibble at or nest in home archives. Aim to keep records away from food sources to these pests (food and drink, potted plants, wool carpets and curtains)

A bonus tip from our team - remove metal fastenings such as staples and paperclips! They will rust, and become a nightmare. Our staff spend a lot of time removing these little terrors from new acquisitions. Wipe away loose dirt and dust, and be proactive in slowing or stopping deterioration by catching issues like mould growth or pest damage early! 🔍

17/06/2026

🚗 Out for a spin 🚗

Not only is it Father's Day this Sunday, it is also the Guernsey Classic Vehicle Show! Annually held at Sausmarez Park since 1998, it has been the talk of our office so far this week as our team discuss which vehicles they will be looking out for this year.

Some like BMW, Morris, or Triumph and BSA. But, we found these pictures of William Loaring's Wolseley Fifteen [Tourer?] from from the early 1920s!

So, how about you take your father figures down to Sausmarez Park this Sunday and support the Guernsey Classic Vehicle Club 🚗 We wonder if any Wolseley cars will be there...

03/06/2026

📸 Way Back When[sday] 📸

More photographs from the James Dennis Collens Collection! In August 1950, during his two week holiday in Guernsey, Mr Collens took over 100 photographs of island life.

St Peter Port Harbour was once busy with cranes loading baskets full of Guernsey-grown produce bound for English markets. It’s a scene we expect some of our followers to remember? 🍅

27/05/2026

🏖️ Take Cover! 🏖️

Cor la, hasn't it been hot? On the bank holiday weekend, half our staff were out sunbathing, while the other half hid in the shade!

This photograph of Arthur Johns Jr at Plemont, Jersey, comes from a 1920-1930s Johns Family Album. He certainly took cover from the sun under his parasol and towel - but not from the beachball about to hit his head 🏐 What a perfectly timed photograph!

We hope you all have sunglasses, a hat, and plenty of drinks to cool down with this week 🍹

20/05/2026

💐 Chelsea Flower Show 💐

Is anyone watching the Chelsea Flower Show this week on TV? The designs and displays are breath-taking!

In 1989, the States of Guernsey won this Royal Horticultural Society medal for Ornamental Flowering & Foliage Plants, Glasshouse & Exotic Vegetables, for their display in the Chelsea Flower Show. It looks incredible, we can only imagine how vibrant it must of been.

With the spring bank holiday this weekend, it may be a good thing to spend some time in the garden - what plants do you grow? 🌷🪴

13/05/2026

💅🏻 It’s not a hobby… It’s a lifestyle 💅🏻

Our team is full of individuals passionate about history, as you'd expect in an Archive. When they aren't at work looking into Guernsey's history, they spend their free-time doing things like this!

Archival Assistant Callum (left) attended Le Pas D'Armes de Kérouzéré last weekend, a living history event in France that aimed to present a tournament held by a Breton lord in the year 1475. Now, just so we don't run the risk of going too far off topic, this Sachent Tous of court of Priory of St Michel du Valle from January 1474-5 (552 years old!) is the same date as the fashion Callum is wearing. The record details Johan Riquart gifting wheat to Vale Church in aid of its upkeep.

It is amazing to be able to hold records this old, but it is another thing being able to immerse yourself in the period it originated. Living history events are a great way to do this.

Callum and Caitlyn both participate in living history outside of work, but using photographs from our collections, they have found several images they are able to recreate.

So, if you find history 'coming to life' interesting, let us know in the comments and we could start a new theme!

12/05/2026

07/05/2026

📝 At last the job is on. 📝

On the 7th May 1945, before they marshalled to head to the Channel Islands, Force 135 troops were given this Special Order of the Day, written by Brigadier A.E. Snow, Commander of Force 135. The copy of the order, and the distribution list, comes from the Bowen Collection.

Even now, the words are stirring, impactful and poignant. We can only image what it must of been like to hear them for the first time.

Here are some quotes:

'Now we will go and do the job we have trained for together'

'You will not forget that you will represent to friend and enemy alike the people of this great Island who have fought it out, bloodied but undaunted for nearly six years, to final and overwhelming victory

You will be gentle and helpful towards the Islanders. You will be firm, strict and correct towards the enemy and avoid all form of fraternisation.

Your first test will be that, when all others around you will be relaxing in the celebration of VE Day, you will have to work without respite or to hold yourselves ready to move. You will not fail, and I will repay'

'You will be worth it. The ball is now at your feet. Come on, Chaps!'

The team at Island Archives wish all Channel Islanders a very happy Liberation Day this weekend! 🇬🇬🇬🇧

28/04/2026

🍾 20 Years in St Barnabas Church 🍾

It's 20 years today since the official reopening of St Barnabas Church as Island Archives! So we are going on a trip down memory lane as we share photos of the renovation works from 2004-2006, taken by our Archives Manager, Nathan, and his recollections:

'The States of Guernsey agreed to the conversion of the former church of St Barnabas into a new Island Archives Centre in 2003. It was in order to provide proper accommodation for Guernsey's historical records that met the best archival standards of security, preservation, and health and safety. It took a lot of time and significant preparation to move thousands of boxes, plans, documents, registers etc., from our old premises in Victoria Road. I have previously likened it to moving 10 houses in one go, though perhaps that number comparison was a little low?

From early 2004 to 2006 we were able to visit the site, it was interesting to view the works progress from the ground all the way up to the roof, with C.A. Duquemin working there from 2005. With the passing of time I can't say I remember too much of the day when we officially reopened on the 28th April 2006, aside from it being an earlier start welcoming a large number of invited guests and speeches!

We have been welcoming visitors and researchers to St Barnabas ever since, and we are very grateful to have received many important and interesting documents from institutions and the public, which are preserved for future generations to learn from and enjoy.'

Thank you, Nathan!

22/04/2026

🇬🇧 Decorate to Liberate 🇬🇧

Island Archives' bunting will be going up on Friday - Archival Assistant Caitlyn and Callum has made sure of it!

Decorating your home with flags and bunting not only makes it look pretty, but has historical significance. It was forbidden to fly the Union Flag during the Occupation, even wearing red, white and blue could run you the risk of trouble. But, this didn't stop Islander's from hiding them away, desperately waiting for victory. Once Liberation came, they raised their flags with pride and celebration. So, it is time for us to do the same 🇬🇧🇬🇬

Many of you will be aware of the image of a woman standing outside her home on the 12th May 1945 with 'Welcome At Long Last Liberty' above the door - but who was she, and how did she get that sign?

She is Elsie Jory, née Davidson, who lived in The Laurels along Candie Road with her husband, Alan, and his parents, Augustus and Martha. Alan worked as a cycle mechanic and spray painter for H.K.P. Workshop, Truchot Street. It is said that Alan was the one who painted the sign, and smuggled it from the workshop, back home in a wheelbarrow to avoid the Germans! 🚲

When will you be putting your bunting up?