Historic environment: research - Unlocking the asylum archives: mania. melancholy, and metallurgy

Join us for an exciting skills workshop at Carlisle Archives as part of a new volunteer research project “Melancholy, Mania and Metallurgy: Unlocking the Asylum Archives”. This project will be uncovering the stories of North Pennines lead miners and their families who spent time in County Asylums. 

The workshop, on Tuesday 3 March, 12 noon to 4pm, is an opportunity to learn archive skills and interact with historical material from The Garlands Hospital Collection (formerly known as Cumberland and Westmoreland County Lunatic Asylum) Collection. Sessions include:

•    A behind the scenes tour of the archive
•    A display class with historical material from the Garlands Hospital Collection (patient registers,     illustrated casebooks, post-mortem reports) exploring how to use them and what they can tell us
•    An illustrated history of Cumberland and Westmoreland County Lunatic Asylum.
•    Introduction to palaeography skills (reading old handwriting) session with an activity using original     documents
•    Introduction to digital resources session with an activity using Ancestry records


(Please note that this project is for adults only. Historical documents use outdated terminology to describe disability and mental health conditions and may also contain material that some people find offensive or distressing.)

Disabled parking available
Wheelchair accessible
Wheelchair accessible toilet

 

 

Schedule Summary

This activity has the following schedule


Date Start Time End Time
Tuesday, March 03, 2026 12:00 PM 4:00 PM