'On the map?  Exploring British Travel Archives'

To mark the centenary of the foundation of the Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Records Service (BLARS) in 1913, the Annual Conference of the British Records Association is taking place this year at the Bedford Corn Exchange on Tuesday 3 December 2013.   The subject this year is travel and there is an exciting diversity of speakers and range of topics.  Nigel Lutt (BLARS) will be speaking about railway history sources in the county record office, Naomi Boneham about the archives of the Scott Polar Research Institute and Margaret Harrison about the Canal and River Trust Waterways Archive. There will be lectures from Professor Felix Driver on the travel albums of a Victorian naval surgeon, from Dr Peter Lyth on Thomas Cook and the Nile in the 1890s and from Dr Nat Alcock on travel in England before the railway age.  The Maurice Bond memorial lecture will be given by Professor Eric Ketelaar with the title 'Travels into and out of the record'.   During the lunch break delegates will be invited to visit the BLRS's centenary exhibition of archives at the nearby Higgins Museum and Gallery.   Further details of the event on the website of the British Records Association http://www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk/pages/events.htm