North East England and Yorkshire

Archaeology Data Service

The Archaeology Data Service has helped make the A14 Cambridge to Huntingdon Digital Archive, documenting 180,000 years of human history across a 21-mile corridor through Cambridgeshire, accessible to global communities through its online database. From mammoth remains to the first genetically identified Sarmatian in Britain, this comprehensive collection includes interactive story maps, online databases, and YouTube presentations.

Two archaeologists in high-vis overclothes are on their hands and knees digging. In front of them, pieces of pottery covered in dirt are laid out on small white slabs.

Archaeologist recovering Roman pottery, Fenstanton Gravels Landscape Block. Image credit: MOLA-Headland Infrastructure (MHI).

East Riding Archives (ERA)

Through their project, “Travellers and Settlers: A History of Ethnic Diversity, Migration and Settlement in the East Riding of Yorkshire“, ERA delivered school workshops to collect stories for the archive via their Minecraft Archiverse platform, collected oral history interviews with refugees and members of the traveller community, and launched a travelling exhibition. They are now using their collections to develop educational resources on diverse local histories. This project is a partnership between ERA, East Riding of Yorkshire Council’s Policy Team, and East Riding Museums.

A digital rendering (reminiscent of Minecraft animation) depicts two documents, an image of a horse and the image of a building.

Example records from the Travellers and Settlers project archive relating to the school workshops (ref. East Riding Archives ERTS). Image credit: East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

Equal Arts

‘Reading with Dementia’ is an innovative collaboration between Equal Arts and Newcastle Libraries using archives and special collections to support dementia-friendly reading in libraries, care, and community settings across Newcastle. Equal Arts used letters, notes, drawings and other papers from the Crawhall collection at Newcastle City Library to inspire reading sessions with groups of people living with dementia and carers.  Rather than focusing on reminiscence, the workshops explored under-used archive material through shared reading, listening, enquiry and conversation.

An open book containing a series of illustrations depicting Medieval characters and symbols.

Image credit: Equal Arts

Gateshead Archive

Gateshead Archive held weekly sessions with Gateshead’s Roma residents at Gateshead’s Integration Station, a local hub for migrants and refugees, to create a heritage resource for libraries and schools recording their history. This project, run in partnership with Roma Rightpath Organisation, supports the archive’s work to ensure collections reflect all groups who have moved to the town and made it their home over the past 200 years.

Four women pose for the camera wearing colourful patterned dresses.

Image credit: Gateshead Archive

Newcastle University Special Collections (NUSC)

NUSC and the School of History, Classics and Archaeology celebrated the completion of a two-year project, ‘Beyond the Margins’, which sparked the creation of a new map interface for the Gertrude Bell Archive and the geo-tagging of over 11,000 items for inclusion on the website. Powered by a Geographic Information System, the archival materials are geo-referenced and can be explored, searched and displayed over satellite imagery or a selection of historical and topographical maps.

A black and white photograph depicting several people and their camels in a desert, stopping in front of a shallow pool of water.

Gertrude Bell’s caravan at watering place, Saudi Arabia, January 1914’, GB/3/1/24/1/18. Image credit: Bell (Gertrude) Archive, Newcastle University Special Collections

Northumberland Archives

As part of the National Lottery Heritage funded ‘Digitally Disrupt the Archives’ project, Northumberland Archives designed and built a mobile escape room. They worked with young people from the town of Hexham and its surrounding communities to develop puzzles, build a narrative for the game and transform the van into an escape room. They also worked in partnership with a local theatre company, a puzzles expert, an IT expert and a set designer.

Several adults and several children wearing white lab coats pose in front of a van marked with a gold logo that reads: 'The Archives Job'.

Image credit: Northumberland County Council

Royal Grammar School (RGS) Newcastle

In 2025, the RGS celebrated its 500th anniversary through a series of events inspired by the school’s history. Activities included a concert at The Glasshouse International Centre for Music in Gateshead, the creation of a specially commissioned 500th microsite, digital timeline and thematic history guides, fundraising appeals, exhibitions, a history book, talks and student projects, all of which have relied on information from the archive.

A black and white photograph of around a dozen boys taking part in a sack race on a school field.

Image credit: 2. Royal Grammar School Newcastle Archives [ref: SUR/125]