We want people to have every opportunity to discover the stories within our collections, and exhibitions are a great way to tell those stories. We have a regular exhibition programme in our building for visitors to enjoy. If you can’t visit in person there are other ways to view our exhibitions.
Online exhibitions
Derbyshire Record Office has partnered with Google Arts and Cultureto create a new way for people to explore and enjoy the Record Office’s collections. You can now access our specially created online exhibitions on Google Arts and Culture using your computer or mobile device.
Bryan Donkin - the man and his machines celebrates the work of this 19th century British engineering talent with a connection to Chesterfield.
Designing a Pit Village tells the story of the Butterley Company’s creation of Ollerton Colliery and pit village in the early 20th century.
Cooper’s Corsets showcases the archive of Richard Cooper & Company Ltd of Ashbourne, who made corsetry for over 125 years.
Charted Territory allows you to travel through the newly digitised maps of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
800 Years of English Handwriting traces the development of handwriting styles found in documents at the record office from the Middle Ages to 1900.
The Last Voyage of Sir John Franklintells the story of Sir John Franklin, an officer in the British Royal Navy who led the famous Franklin Expedition to discover the Northwest Passage. Two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, set off from London in 1845 with a crew of 129 men. When they reached Canada, the ships disappeared in the ice and their crew all perished under mysterious circumstances.
Lady Jane's Museumpresents never before seen photographs of the objects in the Gell family archive, some of which contains letters, diaries and other material relating to the polar explorer Sir John Franklin, his wife Jane, and his daughter Eleanor, who married into the Gell family. Within the archive is a small collection of objects and family mementos from around the world.
A Selection of Derbyshire Treasures showcases treasures that had been collected over the past half century. These are a few of our favourites spanning the corners of the county from the 15th to the 20th century.
Walking Together - an exhibition marking a community’s journey of remembrance for the men who died in the Markham Colliery disasters.
The Crescent - exploring the Grade-1 listed Georgian building in the heart of Derbyshire’s Peak District, where ‘taking the waters’ could be done in style.
Travelling exhibitions
You can borrow one of our travelling exhibitions free of charge. We currently have 2 travelling exhibitions available:
Derbyshire Lives through the First World War
Discover more about life on the front line, on the home front, and the lives of individual Derbyshire men and women.
Telling the story of Derbyshire people’s experience of the First World War, this exhibition is made up of pop-up banners. You can order as many or as few banners as you like, to fit your venue.
The Derbyshire Lives through the First World War project has created a free exhibition which you can borrow for your local venue or event.
You can email record.office@derbyshire.gov.uk for more information on borrowing part or all of the exhibition.
PDFs of the exhibition banners are attached to this page.
Charted Territory
The Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site team, in conjunction with Derbyshire Record Office, has created a free exhibition which you can borrow for your local venue or event.
Charted Territory is a multi-banner exhibition exploring several historic maps of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
The exhibition was born out of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site Great Place Scheme funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England. It began with a dedicated group of local volunteers cataloguing over 200 historic maps and plans of the World Heritage Site held at Derbyshire Record Office.
The banners can work independently of each other, so can be used on a 'mix and match' basis. We'd always recommend including the 'Introduction' banner as this provides the context for the exhibition.
PDFs of the exhibition banners are attached to this page.
When open the banners measure 223cm x 84cm x 19cm. Each banner comes in its own carry case and is easily transportable by car. Banners should be collected from and returned to the record office.
Find out when the exhibition is available.
You can email record.office@derbyshire.gov.uk for more information on borrowing part or all of the exhibition.
Loaning items for exhibitions
We are happy to lend items from our collections for exhibition elsewhere. If you would like to use material from the Record Office in your exhibition, please contact us.