On 8 July, The National Archives (TNA) hosted the second annual Legal Records Jamboree, showcasing the wide range of legal records held in their collections.
Over three sessions, speakers introduced a legal record of their choice in a series of lightning talks, promoted as a sort of “documentary speed-dating”! There was then an opportunity for delegates to view and discuss the documents in more detail in TNA’s reading rooms. The selection of records demonstrated the breadth of the definition of “legal record”. The documents spanned eight centuries and covered topics as diverse as arrests and convictions, indictments for libel, coroners’ reports, patents for new inventions, African oral traditions, smuggling, narratives of enslaved people, the Jewish presence in sixteenth-century London, and LGBT histories. There was also a presentation on the development of an AI model that can transcribe sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century secretary hand.
British Online Archives (BOA) is delighted to have sponsored the event, and members of our team attended. One of our brilliant Senior Curators, Dr Mary Wills, presented a document from our upcoming primary source collection on witchcraft and magic in England. This court deposition from 1673 reveals the fascinating but devastating accusations of a young servant girl in Northumberland. She claimed she had witnessed local women shape shifting into various animal forms, and dancing with the devil.
TNA’s Legal Jamboree is a fascinating event, one that brings together different people and groups. It is a celebration of the variety of stories told in legal records, and the potential they hold for research and collaboration. BOA is happy to have been part of it, and our team is looking forward to next year’s event!