Our 50 Stories for 50 Years series spotlights stories told by our researchers, staff, and volunteers about their time at Churchill Archives Centre.

Some of these stories revolve around how certain collections transformed how a researcher thought about a topic, event, or person. Other stories capture the moment when someone first encountered a captivating document or book. Some recount their memories of working with specific collections in their capacity as archivists, archives assistants, and conservators. Together, they unearth some of the hidden stories lying on our shelves.

Over the next few months, we’ll be posting all 50 of our stories on Twitter. In the meantime, watch some of our latest stories below – and if there’s a story you’d like to tell about one of our collections, then get in touch.

Email: archives@chu.cam.ac.uk

50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

“An overwhelming smell of watercolours”: discovering children’s letters in the archives

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

‘An important piece of world history’ in the collection of Davidson Nicol

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

“It was just such an interesting experience”: discovering a Baroness’s album

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Memories of discovering a play written by Lady Randolph Churchill and performing it for the very first time

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

The hidden history of IVF in a secretary’s scrapbook

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Conserving a biophysicist’s model

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

The diaries of the social researcher Phyllis Willmott

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Conserving Lise Meitner’s slide rule

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Rosalind Franklin’s notebooks, chosen by Professor Dame Athene Donald, Master of Churchill College

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Memories of Churchill Archives Centre

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

Conserving First World War panoramic photographs

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50 Stories for 50 Years Churchill Archives Centre

The second Archives Assistant at Churchill Archives Centre

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