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Blogs

Keep up to date with all the latest blog posts from Tees Valley Museums.

Refugees of Hartlepool Bombardment, 1914

On 16th December 1914, the towns of Hartlepool and West Hartlepool came under attack by three German warships, causing many people to flee the town at short notice. In the face of losing their homes and loved ones, some chose not to return.

A selection of childcare objects with a small baby brush in the middle, a butterfly teething toy underneath that and the top of some metal forceps to the right.

Midwifery Forceps

The 20th Century Woman Gallery at the Dorman Museum celebrated women who lived through the turbulent 20th century, from the First and Second World Wars, to the technological advances of the 1980s/90s, it told many stories of how women’s lives have changed during this period.

Using some objects taken of display we will be charting the histories of these fundamental changes in the lives of women’s reproductive health and motherhood that may not be immediately obvious looking at these inanimate objects. First up we are looking at the Forceps.

Chartism, the Workers’ Fight for Rights – Part 3

The Chartist Movement, which occurred across the country between the late 1830s and late 1850s, was Britain’s first mass working class movement for voting and parliamentary rights. This series of blogs will tell the history of how the movement took place in our area, specifically Darlington, Stockton, and Middlesbrough.

This third and final part investigates the last years of the chartist movement, how it did not lead to parliamentary reform, but how it did play its part in the evolution of the working class which would eventually lead to the vote being extended.

Chartism, the Workers’ Fight for Rights – Part 2

The Chartist Movement, which occurred across the country between the late 1830s and late 1850s, was Britain’s first mass working class movement for voting and parliamentary rights. This series of blogs will tell the history of how the movement took place in our area, specifically Darlington, Stockton, and Middlesbrough.

This second part investigates how chartism in Middlesbrough took a very different stance to Stockton and Darlington, how their working and middle classes were on more even footing, and how chartist activities started to lean more towards education, co-operation, and trade unionism.

Chartism, the Workers’ Fight for Rights – Part 1

The Chartist Movement, which occurred across the country between the late 1830s and late 1850s, was Britain’s first mass working class movement for voting and parliamentary rights. This series of blogs will tell the history of how the movement took place in our area, specifically Darlington, Stockton, and Middlesbrough.

This first part in a series of three blogs will investigate what the Chartist Movement was, how it came about, and how the early years of the movement in Stockton and Darlington occurred.

Thomas Hutchinson and his Wonderful Book Collection

In this blog we are exploring a beautiful collection of books that was donated to Preston Park Museum and Grounds in the 1970s. Collected by one man over 25 years, the collection spans over 2,500 books of various literary works.

Women’s Underclothing: Bras

In part four of our blog series on the history of woman's underwear we are looking at the development of the bra, how woman went from corsets to bras and we are looking at the bras we hold in our collections.

Women’s Underclothes: Corsets

In the third of our four part blog on the history of women's underclothes we are looking at corsets! Why did women wear corsets and what did they look like? Find out in this bog as we look at the corset collections we hold.

Drawing of a woman in her long underwear wearing a crinoline cage who is being attended to a young girl also wearing a crinoline cage. The woman is staring at her reflection in a full length mirror.

Women’s Underclothing: Crinoline Cages

In this second blog of our history of woman's underclothing we are looking at the famous crinoline cage! An unusual garment, this skirt cage was usually made of metal to give skirts an extra large look.

Women’s Underclothing: Knickers & Stockings

In the first of our four part blog on the history of women's underclothes we are looking at the history of knickers and stockings, how they came to be and what we hold in our museums collections.

Cliff House Pottery – Leaf plates and Mary Brett’s Tobacco Jar

Recently we took part in a deep clean of the Museum of Hartlepool, and this gave us the opportunity to get up-close with some of our favourite objects from the collection, in particular the leaf plates and tobacco jar produced by Cliff House Pottery.

Valentines Day Traditions

This Valentines Day we are exploring our collections and looking at how the traditions we now associate with Valentines Day came to be.