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Back to the future
The £10m Hull History Centre is now open for all to enjoy
Do you want to trace your family tree?
Do you want to find out about the history of your house – for example, who used to live there or what was on the land before it was built?
Do you want to rediscover and see photos of old, long-demolished buildings and streets?
Now you can do all the research yourself, with expert advice from staff at the Hull History Centre.
"It's a one-stop shop where local people can get answers to all their historical and genealogical questions," says city archivist Martin Taylor.
"We'll be hosting regular events for the public, as well as giving out easy-to-use guides showing people how to make the most of the service."
Blast from the past
The centre, behind Hull New Theatre, on Worship Street, has brought together treasured documents from Hull City Council's Family History and City Archives Units with the archives from the University of Hull.
That's enough boxes of archives to span the Humber Bridge four times!
There are the letters and speeches of the world's first human rights campaigner, Hull MP William Wilberforce.
And there are the papers of Hull poets Andrew Marvell and Phillip Larkin.
There are more than 286 love letters written by one of Hull's most famous daughters – the pilot Amy Johnson.
And there are treasures from ordinary people – like the diary of a Hull trawler skipper from 1939, which contains a letter written to him by his daughter.
And a letter from 1853, in which a squire's son promises to pay maintenance to a servant girl for the illegitimate child she bore him as long as "she never attempt to affiliate the said child."
"The public can handle the documents, but only in the special 'search room' in which the atmosphere is controlled," says Carol Tanner, senior archivist.
"No coats or bags will be allowed in, and people will have to work in pencil to minimise the risk of damage to these important documents."
Darker days
The Hull History Centre is built on a site which was formerly the Mason Street car park.
But go further back in time and you'll find it was the location of back-to-back slum houses, with few amenities, in which families lived very close to one another.
And it was the poor sanitary conditions of this type of housing which was largely to blame for a cholera epidemic in Hull during the summer of 1847.
The epidemic reached its peak in the first three weeks of September 1847 when more than 1,500 people died.
Hands on history
Can you solve the mystery of the blood-stained duelling glove, one of the treasures of the Hull History Centre?
The glove is inscribed with the date July 3, 1804.
Legend has it that the blood stain is from the hand of the loser in a pistol battle
"We've been looking at our collections of newspapers and letters from that time trying to find out why the fight took place and what the outcome was," says David Smith, senior local studies librarian at the history centre.
"So far we haven't found anything, but maybe one of our visitors will be luckier.
We'd be delighted if someone could delve into our records and solve this mystery!"
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The centre has been jointly funded by Hull City Council and the University of Hull, with help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Call 317 500 or visit www.hullhistorycentre.org.uk
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