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Mary Burgess

@cambliblife.bsky.social

1.4K followers 430 following 510 posts

Local history author and researcher. Local Studies Librarian for Cambridgeshire Libraries - usually found in the Cambridgeshire Collection. Bit deaf 🦻. She/they.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · Aug 19

Well, I've finally made my way onto here. Interested in Cambridge and Cambridgeshire in particular and local history and libraries in general.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 15h

It's Cambridge bin ladies today - during the First World War women did lots of jobs that were previously men's work, including keeping the place clean and tidy. Here's Cambridge Corporation dust cart crew number 1 and number 6 with their uniforms and equipment.

Cambridge Corporation dust cart number 6, a tall trailer on large cart wheels. Two women are posing in front, one sweeping, one shovelling dirt into the dust cart.

Cambridge Corporation dust cart number 1, with four women standing in front. Three are holding brooms and one a shovel.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 1d

That always used to be my go to asking for a new library PIN for those of a certain age - they could all rattle it off without thinking about it

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 1d

I had to put it on so many job applications I know that too.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 2d

On the way back from a very enjoyable trip to The National Archives with work. Great to see behind the scenes.

The National Archives at Kew. Their main entrance

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 4d

I'm back from my holiday, it's the monthly #SaturdayLibrarian shift and my colleague has just handed me my new favourite item, newly donated! Of course everybody needs a box of pub sign cocktail sticks for Cambridgeshire. Looks like from eBay that Whitbread did sets of these covering the country.

A greeny yellow box, obviously 1960s style, with Genuine Inn Sign Cocktail Sticks The Hotels and Inns of Cambridgeshire from Whitbread. You can see various inn signs sticking out of the top of the box.

The box opened with a close up of the signs - The Boot, The Eagle, The Royal Oak, The Trinity Foot, The Plough, all with little (roughly inch square) copies of the pub signs.

The backs of the signs showing the rather lethal looking cocktail stick spikes. All the signs have writing on the back like you'd get in pub advertising - "Fen Ditton Cambridge Tel Teversham Luncheons & Dinners A La Carte Menu Specialities scampi lobster & steak."

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 6d

Managed to find Bournemouth Central Library yesterday. I was particularly impressed with the excellent local studies section. Also saw St Peter's church and the tomb of the Shelly family

Bournemouth Central Library in the Triangle on a rather grey day.

The inside of St Peter's church Bournemouth with many wall paintings

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 7d

Headed over to Bournemouth for a few days - you don't get beaches like this in Norfolk! Really enjoyed visiting the Russell-Cotes Museum yesterday as well.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 10d

Headed out yesterday in Storm Amy for the AGM of the local history society, but also nipped in to see the newly refurbished Rock Road Library. It was very busy indeed, hence no interior photographs, but it's looking very nice. Lovely new ceiling windows really brighten up the place.

The outside of Rock Road library, a small suburban branch library. It's brick built and has 1936 over the main window, with a small garden in the front.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 12d

I'm wearing a lanyard right now! Shocking...

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 12d

We're having a drop in session sharing South Asian memories of the Second World War together with the Imperial War Museum on 14th October 1-5pm in our new Everyspace area on the third floor of Cambridge Central Library. See www.eventbrite.com/e/sharing-so... for more details and do spread the word!

Sharing South Asian Voices in the Second World War

Come and have a chat with the Imperial War Museums

www.eventbrite.com

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

It's X5 from Oxford to Bedford and then you have to swap onto the 905 bus from there to Cambridge. I do the Cambridge to St Neots bit a lot but St Neots to Bedford doesn't half go all round the houses.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

Excellent book that, and the second one is just as good.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

It's a local one - made by Fyson's of Soham apparently. They only ever made 17 and they're all numbered - this is number 10.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

It's to try to stop the noise of the drums being picked up on everybody else's mics.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

Not sure I fancy this either to be honest - don't even like celery in its normal green stalky state.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 14d

I'm off to Soham tomorrow to talk about the history of transport in Cambridgeshire. It'll be 10-11am at Soham Library. Here's Soham Bapist Sunday School on an outing in 1923, with a steam traction engine pulling 5 waggons of children down the High Street.

A black and white photograph of a steam traction engine pulling five waggons of children down the High Street in Soham. Various boys are either walking or cycling alongside.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 15d

The Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society are one of the best sources for Cambridgeshire archaeology and local history and they're available for free online at archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/library/brow...

archaeologydataservice.ac.uk

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 16d

It's all fairgrounds and amusements here today - have Billy Smart's circus elephants wandering through Cambridge.

A colour photograph of three elephants in a line walking past Parker's Piece, with their handler in a red jacket.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 16d

As the local studies librarian for Cambridgeshire - give me more town books! Set it in the city, not everything has to be purely University about Cambridge. (And then come into my library to do your research...)

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 20d

One of the more interesting buildings in Cambridge you might not have heard of is Chesterton Tower - tucked away near St Andrew's Church. It's actually a house, built for a local officer for Vercelli Abbey in Italy, who owned the manor. Read more at capturingcambridge.org/chesterton-2...

A black and white picture of Chesterton Tower in the 1920s, with various trees growing around the building.

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Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 21d

Found one of the old Huntingdonshire County Library book plates today - bit more exciting than the modern logo

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 21d

We've got one of those. Sometimes if I really can't read it I send it to him and he doesn't know what he wrote either.

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 21d

There's a reason why all of ours have big long spikes through them to hold them together when muppets drop them on the floor. (It's me, I'm the muppet)

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 22d

I'm sitting here eating my tea and you've got me feeling hungry again. I've not even finished it yet!

Mary Burgess @cambliblife.bsky.social · 22d

We had a fire drill at work yesterday, so here's a picture of Cambridge's new fire engine leaving the station in St Andrew's Street in 1920.

A motorised fire engine in 1920s style leaving the fire station in St Andrew's Street. A full crew of six are perched on top, all looking natty with their shiny helmets.

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