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Record Office exhibitions

Explore the Record Office collections with our range of online and travelling exhibitions.


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.

Our exhibitions highlight fascinating aspects of Derbyshire’s history, reaching far beyond the county’s borders, from the industries of textile manufacturing, coal mining and pottery to literary connections and country houses.

Find out about Derbyshire’s links to an Arctic explorer and a Tudor Queen. We explore what makes the county unique – from its landscape to its culinary specialities. We also feature how the conservation staff at the record office look after our wonderful collections.

Exhibitions are added regularly, so keep checking for new stories.

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.