Search Help
You can search the archive in 2 ways:- Using the Search Tool
- Browsing the Topics
1. Using the Search Tool
This tool is at the top of the page alongside the magnifying glass. (As well as the archives, this will search the whole website.)
Searching for subjects:
- You can type in the subject in which you are interested, bearing in mind that use of a + symbol will allow you to narrow your search e.g. a typing in women will bring up all records containing that subject (staff and residents). However your interest may be more specific and relate, for instance, to women residents who went to the hospital school in the 1940s in which case you could type in women resident school 1940s +.
- As hinted at it is possible to search according to gender, decade and role at the hospital i.e. certainly whether staff or resident, but also if staff in broad terms what job e.g. nurse, administrator, porter and so on.
- As well as the option of typing in any words (e.g. of people, places, activities etc. linked to the institution) you may wish to use one or more of the key words, see bottom of the page*, which are used in the archive.
Also you may want material in a particular format. All records contain an image and some text, but you can search for other forms of records by typing in the words:
caption + document for those record with documents (usually a pdf file);
caption + audio for audio clips;
caption + video clips; and
caption + transcript for those records which contain summaries or transcripts of whole interviews. Most of our interviews are in summarised form with some transcribed material. (We would prefer fully transcribed interviews but have not the personnel at present to achieve this.)
Searching for specific photographs:caption + document for those record with documents (usually a pdf file);
caption + audio for audio clips;
caption + video clips; and
caption + transcript for those records which contain summaries or transcripts of whole interviews. Most of our interviews are in summarised form with some transcribed material. (We would prefer fully transcribed interviews but have not the personnel at present to achieve this.)
All records have a photographic image, but if you wish to find a photograph of a specific item please type in that word with the word 'photograph' and then a '&' sign (in that order!).
So for example if want a photograph of the farm, type: farm photograph &; or one of Winmarleigh Hall, type: Winmarleigh Hall photograph & and so on.
(This only searches at a basic level because of course the beauty of photographs is that they contain details which relate to many different topics and themes.)
Searching for individual records by their number:
Each record has its own number which can be inputted into the search tool. This is especially useful for cross referencing purposes.
2. Browsing the Topics
The front page of the archive, as you can see, has a list of topics. Each record in the archive is located within a topic area, which if clicked on will reveal its contents, You can then click and open any of the records. Understandably each record does not fit neatly into a particular topic – so where possible we have cross referenced material.
*Examples of Key Words: After Hospital; Arrival; Attitudes; Choice; Clothing: Compliance; Discipline; Education; Entertainment; Family Contact; Food; Hospital Closure; Leaving Hospital; Money; Nurse Training; Nursing Duties; Outside World; Pay; Pre-Hospital; Privacy; Privileges; Punishments; Abuse; Regime Changes; Regimes; Relationships; Resistance (Residents); Resistance (Staff); Routines; Service Conditions; Shop; Special Occasions; Sport; Staff Accomodation; Ward Culture; Wardlife; Ward Journey; Wartime; Work; Work Culture; Resettlement; 1910s; 1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1950s; 1960s; 1970s; 1980s; 1990s; 2000s
