Events and Activities
Talks, Tours, Exhibitions and Courses
 | Staff are able to give talks on the work of Devon Heritage Services and to provide advice about the sources to use for various aspects of historical research, including local, landscape, family and building history. Tours of the record office can be arranged for students, family and local history groups and other interested societies, and they can be tailored to a group’s individual requirements. For example, an introduction for students or others wishing to make intensive use of the searchroom will concentrate on the sources to use for the research that they wish to do and the procedures which apply, including registration, the use of finding aids and ordering of documents. Such visits are best conducted with groups of fewer than ten people on a weekday when the searchroom is open. Other tours are usually conducted on Saturday mornings when the office is closed to the general public. They include a display of original documents relating to the locality or interests of the group and there is usually an opportunity to visit areas of the office which are not normally open to the public, including strongrooms, document processing areas and the Conservation Studio. Larger groups of people, up to a maximum of approximately thirty, can be accommodated on these tours |
 | Charges for talks and tours are: External Talks and Presentation
Tours
For other talks, presentations and events we will cost the event in advance and charge an appropriate fee based on the expense of running the event. For training events we will add charges based on the complexity of the course and the costs of staff time in preparation. |
If you wish to arrange a talk, tour or other event, or simply wish to discuss the available options and the way in which they can be tailored to your requirements, please contact Brian Carpenter, Community and Education Development Officer.
Telephone: 01392 384253
E-mail: brian.carpenter@devon.gov.uk
No courses are currently being planned. Information on future courses will appear on this webpage.
Simcoe Family
 | A new exhibition relating to the Simcoe Family Papers has been mounted in the foyer of the Devon Record Office in Exeter. The Simcoe Family papers [in collection 1038M] relate to the life, career and immediate family of General John Graves Simcoe, Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada. The collection consists primarily of property records and the diaries and correspondence of family members. The exhibition relates principally to the family letters, which contain elements of humour, tragedy and heartfelt affection and which illustrate the lives and interests of members of the family during the Napoleonic era. A new volunteer project is planned to make the collection more accessible to researchers. The letters included in the collection have previously been catalogued by bundle, but as part of the process of making the catalogue available on-line it has been decided that all 928 letters should receive an individual description so that the contents can be made more widely known. If you are interested in volunteering for this project, please contact Renee Jackaman, Collections Development Manager Telephone: 01392 384258 E-mail: renee.jackaman@devon.gov.uk |
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The Exeter Blitz of World War Two
May’s display in the exhibition case in the searchroom at Great Moor House commemorates the seventieth anniversary of the ‘Exeter Blitz‘ of late April and early May 1942.
The display comprises photographs of the damage caused by the air raids and a range of documents which both reflect the way in which the city responded to the worst crisis in its history and the support which it received from elsewhere.
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The worst raid suffered by the city came on the night of the 3rd and 4th May, when sustained bombing caused widespread damage around the city and killed 156 people.
On 8th May Exeter was visited by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, who toured the city and spoke to members of the public, and the city authorities received many messages of sympathy and support from neighbouring cities, towns and organisations.
The blitz changed the face of Exeter for ever, destroying or permanently damaging many of its pre-war buildings and leading to many years of post-war restoration and rebuilding.
