̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Churchill Archives Centre

How will history tell our stories?

lkm37 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 09:17:37 +0000

Historian Helen McCarthy helps us make sense of our recent past. She infuses her subjects – from working mothers to modern retirees – with urgency and personality.

Churchill Archives Centre shares digitised treasures to celebrate 50 years

ta385 — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 11:10:39 +0000

̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre is a world-leading collection of 20th century history, holding a wide-range of documents generated by more than 570 political, military & scientific luminary figures from the Churchill era and beyond. To mark its 50th anniversary, the Centre has launched a free Access Portal which allows researchers to explore archival material which is being shared online for the first time.

This material includes Clementine Churchill's photo albums, plus a selection of her letters to Winston Churchill, such as one hurriedly written in crayon in 1914, where Clementine begged Winston not to fly (Image 8 of 48). Like many of her letters, she signed it off with a doodle of a cat.

̽��ֱ��Access Portal is open to all, and a useful resource for researchers, teachers and anyone looking to examine British history from mid-twentieth century onward. It provides a window into the collections of the Archives Centre, which includes digital images of documents, photo albums, correspondence, alongside oral history interviews and video footage.

̽��ֱ��Access Portal also shares a lifetime of letters from Sarah Churchill to her mother, Clementine, from childhood and schooldays to her career as a dancer and actress, including a wartime interlude in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force when she accompanied her father, Winston, to the Yalta Conference.

Visitors can also find a selection of private diaries penned by diplomat Alexander Cadogan, dating from the 1930s and 40s, where he wrote about colleagues and foreign policy making in characteristically brisk and candid style.

Recordings of the biennial Roskill Lecture, a lecture series, have also been added to the Portal. Covering topics such as international security, foreign policy, war, public policy, and the history of science, the series was initially set up to honour the Senior Research Fellow and historian, Captain Stephen Roskill, who played a vital role in setting up the Archives Centre.

They are joined by over 100 podcast interviews with female MPs, which were originally broadcast on Women’s Parliamentary Radio, covering subjects such as the centenary of women’s suffrage to debates over Brexit.

Over the coming months, the team will be adding more material to the Access Portal, which supplements a range of other freely access historical documents, including documents relating to Margaret Thatcher via the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, as well as classroom-ready resources centered on the Churchill era via the Churchill Archives for Schools website.

Professor Dame Athene Donald, Master of Churchill College, said: “Since joining the College, I have found the Archives Centre to be a special place, offering so much to individuals at every stage of their career. I am grateful to all here at Churchill College who have contributed to its inception, growth and continuing success. It is a truly unique resource for the study of so many aspects of our recent past.”

Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre said: “ ̽��ֱ��main challenge of our first half century was to create something sustainable: to gather the collections, to build the Archives Centre and to put in place the funding to secure the operation for the longer term. Going forward, we will need to be imaginative in growing access, widening participation, embracing new technologies and providing more remote services. In that sense, the Access Portal is a very real link between the past and the future, a vital first step in helping to take the raw material of history to a wider audience.”

̽��ֱ��Access Portal launch is part of a year of celebrations to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Churchill Archives Centre. ̽��ֱ��team have also launched its ‘50 stories for 50 years’ series which spotlights stories told by researchers, staff, and volunteers about their experiences at the Archives Centre.

̽��ֱ��highlight of the Anniversary celebrations will be a free 2-day conference on the 25th and 26th September 2023, open to the public and featuring a range of high-profile speakers and researchers. It will be held in-person and streamed online and will explore the history of the Archives Centre, its impact, and what the future of Archives might look like. More information and booking a place.

Letters sent to Winston Churchill by his wife are among an array of fascinating historic papers and recordings which can now be explored via the Archive Centre's new Access Portal.

̽��ֱ��Access Portal is a very real link between the past and the future, a vital first step in helping to take the raw material of history to a wider audience

Allen Packwood

Jane Liechty photography

Entrance to the Churchill Archives Centre

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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Giving life to research

zs332 — Fri, 19 Mar 2021 09:24:32 +0000

A special online symposium will celebrate the archive of IVF pioneer, Sir Robert Edwards, and seek ways that this extraordinary archive can be used by researchers of today.

̽��ֱ��Thatcher papers: 1990

ta385 — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:00:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre shines a light on Margaret Thatcher's final year in office.

̽��ֱ��archive of Professor Sir Robert Edwards, IVF pioneer, reveals his personal struggles: for recognition of an unsung female colleague and fair access to treatment for all

ehs33 — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 23:01:00 +0000

̽��ֱ��private papers of IVF pioneer, Professor Sir Robert Edwards, opened to the public at Cambridge ̽��ֱ��’s Churchill Archives Centre on Monday 10 June 2019.

Robert Edwards worked for over a decade on the research that led to the success of in vitro fertilisation to treat infertility. ̽��ֱ��big breakthrough came with the birth of the world’s first IVF baby, Louise Brown in 1978. Thereafter he established the world’s first IVF clinic, Bourn Hall in Cambridgeshire, in 1980. Throughout he worked alongside medical doctor, Patrick Steptoe, and clinical embryologist Jean Purdy. Since then it has been estimated that six million babies have been born through IVF all over the world.

Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010 for the development of in vitro fertilisation, and was knighted in 2011. Neither award can be made posthumously, so acknowledgment came too late for Purdy and Steptoe who died in 1985 and 1988 respectively - but the discovery was a team effort.

Newly released letters from Edwards’ archive show his personal battle as he repeatedly fought for official recognition of Jean Purdy’s equal contribution towards the discovery of IVF. Her work as a woman in science has gone largely unrecognised when compared to Edwards and Steptoe.

In correspondence released between Edwards and Oldham Health Authority in the lead up to the unveiling of an official plaque to mark the birth of Louise Brown, Edwards argues numerous times for the inclusion of Jean Purdy’s name to sit alongside his own and that of Patrick Steptoe.

He writes arguing for fair recognition and states that Jean Purdy ‘travelled to Oldham with me for 10 years and contributed as much as I did to the project. Indeed, I regard her as an equal contributor to Patrick Steptoe and myself.’ Unfortunately his repeated appeals fell on deaf ears and Oldham Health Authority did not take on board his request and her name went unrecognised on the official plaque.

Purdy joined Edwards in 1968 and worked closely with him, travelling to California in 1969 to undertake key research on follicular fluid. She continued to be instrumental in enabling the continued trials of IVF and in locating and organizing the adaptation of Bourn Hall as the world’s first IVF clinic. Meanwhile, as letters reveal, the National Health Service repeatedly declined to support IVF work, despite the numerous ways Edwards presented the case.

In a letter dated November 1974, Edwards writes to the Department of Health pointing out, ‘Our major concern is to help the many patients who could benefit by the rapid development of this method, for it could avoid many operations now carried out, which could become unnecessary.’

Again in Oct 1981 he writes to the Local Health Authority questioning the ethics and legality of withholding treatment because of lack of financial support: ‘…these patients have paid their contribution to the NHS and, now they want treatment, they are not being allowed to receive it. I cannot allow this situation to rest as it is, especially since, at long last you have been advised that it is professionally accepted that our approach offers the only hope of conception for some women… I cannot see any excuse for excluding one group of patients from the correct form of treatment.’

Cambridgeshire Health Authority replied to Edwards’ appeals for support, ‘Our current allocation is insufficient to maintain the service that we already provide. There is, therefore, no way in which the Health Authority can meet the expense of NHS patients attending your clinic.’

With the ethics and funding of IVF and other assisted reproductive technologies still open for discussion today - such as the cut in NHS funding for IVF treatment- the Edwards archive could add valuable context to the debate.

̽��ֱ��papers will be invaluable for researchers in the history of science, but also in the history of ethics, social implications of medical developments, and political and media history. Edwards engaged with the ethics of IVF and there is a wealth of information in the archive on these matters.

̽��ֱ��cataloguing of the Edwards' papers has been generously funded by Wellcome.

Sir Robert Edwards' archive catalogue is available online

Researchers can book an appointment at Churchill Archives Centre to view the papers.

Robert Edwards Archive

IVF trio with Louise Brown and her mother at 1st Birthday

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Images, including our videos, are Copyright © ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and licensors/contributors as identified. All rights reserved. We make our image and video content available in a number of ways – as here, on our main website under its Terms and conditions, and on a range of channels including social media that permit your use and sharing of our content under their respective Terms.

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1989: ̽��ֱ��year Margaret Thatcher’s apparent mastery slipped away

ehs33 — Sat, 09 Mar 2019 00:00:01 +0000

Forty thousand pages of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s personal and political papers from 1989 are being opened to the public at the Churchill Archives Centre and online at the website of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

In 1989, the arrival of Alan Walters had an incendiary effect. Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson's fundamental disagreements with the views and actions of Walters, Margaret Thatcher’s economics adviser, led to the watershed resignation of both men on 26 October 1989.

Lawson’s decision to resign after over six years as a key figure in Thatcher’s government was a pivotal moment in the events which would lead to the downfall of the Prime Minister.
For the first time, Thatcher’s extraordinary handwritten letter to Walters – written in the aftermath of both their resignations – gives profound insight and confirms Thatcher’s true sentiment and affiliation to Walters over Lawson as her Chancellor, a split that divided the Conservative party.

Across four pages Thatcher underlines her words and states she was "truly appalled" at Lawson’s request to sack Walters for undermining his authority and regarded it as "totally unjust and shocking". Her gratitude to Walters is evident saying “the work you did during our first administration was the foundation of our later success’ adding “I fervently believe you’re right”.
Thatcher bemoans the legacy of her longstanding Chancellor in a way she could not do in public. “As you know he has left us with high inflation, a very high trade deficit, not to mention the very high interest rate”.

Contained in an off the record interview with Kelvin McKenzie Editor of the Sun, released for the first time, her emotional reaction to events is powerfully present. She recalls her children’s consoling phone calls on the evening of the Lawson resignation – “Mum are you alright? don’t worry, you know we love you”. She describes their support as “meaning more than anything in the world”.

This event, combined with the highlights of the previously unseen material, opened the door to the end of Thatcherism before another year was out. Documents released for the first time include:

Startling confidential reports on the effects of the poll tax – some only sent to the Prime Minister – forewarning her of its unfairness and adverse impact on Tory marginal seats, including Thatcher’s own Finchley constituency. Thatcher was clearly warned from numerous sources about the ratio of losers to winners amongst Conservative voters and the consequent likely political damage, yet despite all this, pressed ahead. This flagship Thatcherite policy, would not be possible to abolish while Thatcher was still Prime Minister;
Thatcher’s private notes on the 'Madrid ambush', the ultimatum from Nigel Lawson and Geoffrey Howe that she issue a date to join the ERM goes to the very heart of the story of the Thatcher government in its last years – both men had once been among her closes political allies;
Mrs Thatcher’s personal fondness for health cures in the form of her correspondence with the novelist Barbara Cartland offering her “golden acorns”, perhaps nutrimental supplements she might have taken in combination with living off black coffee and describing eggs and bacon as “quite the best thing, British peoples culinary gift to the world”;
̽��ֱ��first use of the ‘royal we' in Thatcher's statement to the press on the birth of her first grandchild, Mark Thatcher's son Michael caused huge negative public reaction. ̽��ֱ��term had previously been restricted to royalty. Its use by a mere prime minister alongside Thatcher's imperious personal manner were the source of considerable disdain at the time. Thatcher's apparent conceit led to her being described as “a legend in her own imagination”.

Allen Packwood, Director of the Churchill Archives Centre, said: “Whatever our politics we have to recognise Margaret Thatcher as a major historical figure. ̽��ֱ��material released today will further inform our understanding of these historic events during 1989. There is huge research interest in her as a political figure and in the events of her life and premiership, the material will inform further study, discussion and debate.”

̽��ֱ��Churchill Archives Centre is open to researchers five days a week for about fifty weeks each year. ̽��ֱ��Centre provides free access for all potential visitors, subject only to prior booking of a space in its reading room.

̽��ֱ��archive can be viewed at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website and will be made available to view at the Churchill Archives Centre from Monday 11 March.

Whatever our politics we have to recognise Margaret Thatcher as a major historical figure

Allen Packwood

Reproduced by kind permission of the family of Srdja Djukanovic

Margaret Thatcher 1989

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How Churchill Waged War

sjr81 — Wed, 21 Nov 2018 09:24:05 +0000

Read our full Shorthand story here.

A newly-published book by Churchill Archives Centre Director Allen Packwood illuminates the agonising decisions faced by the Prime Minister during some of the darkest and most uncertain moments of the Second World War.

Imperial War Museum

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Thatcher papers for 1988 reveal her 'deep enthusiasm' for the single market

sjr81 — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 07:00:58 +0000

Her speechwriting files for Bruges, including drafts and contributions from outsiders, are among more than 40,000 pages of Lady Thatcher’s papers for the year 1988 being opened to the public at Churchill College from Monday.

They show that rather than acting as a call-to-arms for Eurosceptics and attacking the principles behind the single market – of which Thatcher was something of a devotee – her speech was more concerned with the perceived power grab by European Commission chief Jacques Delors, and a possible move to a more ‘federal’ European ‘super-state’.

Historian Chris Collins of the Margaret Thatcher Foundation, the only person to date to have read all 40,000 pages of material being released, said: “She wanted her speech to be about direction, rather than point scoring – and she edges back from attacking the Commission, approaching it in a more intellectual style.

“I know she was uncomfortable about the venue, but we are very lucky in that few of her speeches remain in such a complete form as this.

“When you read her papers for 1988, you see her sheer level of enthusiasm for the single market. She goes up hill and down dale with deep enthusiasm because this is practical Europe, this is how it works together. ̽��ֱ��role of speechwriter Hugh Thomas – a committed Europhile – is also crucial to consider when looking at this speech from a historical perspective.”

̽��ֱ��1988 papers are the latest of Margaret Thatcher’s reign as Prime Minister from 1979-90 to be made available to scholars, researchers and the general public – alongside the papers of Sir Winston Churchill and hundreds of other leading figures at the Churchill Archives Centre.

As well as Lady Thatcher’s papers surrounding the Bruges speech in September 1988, her personal papers also reveal the emergence of plans for a possible fourth term in office, with no obvious end to Thatcherism in sight at that point.

However, 1988 was not without its problems as the government experienced a large number of backbench rebellions on controversial measures, including many with manifesto authority. When Thatcher met with the Executive of the 1922 Committee in January, she was warned that one of the things they wanted to raise with her was the ‘problem of a large majority in the House of Commons and an inadequate Opposition, leading the government being perceived as dictatorial and insensitive to criticism’.

“Unsurprisingly, when this point was indeed made to her face, Thatcher made an indignant response,” said Collins. “There followed a series of rebellions over benefits and the poll tax which she took very personally as relationships with the Conservative parliamentary party frayed.”

Away from frontline politics, the archives for 1988 also reveal that her husband Denis went through a showbiz reception guest list with a fine tooth-comb, querying whether certain celebrities such as Paul McCartney and David Attenborough should be invited to Number 10 for a gathering of those who would be easily recognised by the public and do Mrs Thatcher much good on TV.

̽��ֱ��original list of 45 personalities was too low on numbers thought Lady Thatcher and a much longer list of more than 200 names was drawn up by former culture secretary, John Whittingdale – then political secretary to the Prime Minister.

“He (Whittingdale) was not the grizzled elder statesman of the present day,” said Collins. “This was the young man whose evening was spent watching Meatloaf at the Hammersmith Odeon and whose idea of a good party was to invite Paul McCartney, Freddie Mercury and the Jaggers.

Whittingdale, perhaps, did not count on the scrutinous eye of Denis Thatcher – who attacked the proposed guest list with no small amount of red ink, marking ticks against those he ‘would personally like to see included’ and question marks beside ‘those who, I believe, do not help'.

He went on to say: “Whilst I accept of course that not everyone who comes to our receptions are necessarily on ‘our’ side I find it both unpleasant and embarrassing to entertain those who publicly insult the PM. This list needs some careful checking in this regard.”

His favourite name of those listed was comedian Eric Sykes who gained an expansive four ticks. Others to receive enthusiastic backing from Denis included Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Dame Judi Dench, Nick Faldo and Rolf Harris.

McCartney and Attenborough were not alone in having question marks placed next to their name. Sebastian Coe, Shirley Bassey and magician Paul Daniels all fell foul of Denis’ red pen.

In the end, the longer guest list was dropped in favour of the original 45 and the British Winter Olympic Squad – minus Eddie ‘ ̽��ֱ��Eagle’ Edwards, who was double booked and unable to attend.

Margaret Thatcher’s infamous Bruges speech – which helped to coin the phrase ‘Euroscepticism’ – was never intended to be an anti-European diatribe, according to newly-released archive material by the Churchill Archives Centre and the Margaret Thatcher Foundation.

When you read her papers for 1988, you see her sheer level of enthusiasm for the single market.

Chris Collins

Margaret Thatcher Foundation

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