Nicholas legacy

Veronica and Ian Nicholas' legacy gifts ignite extension of East Midlands Oral History Archive project

History alumna Veronica Nicholas and her husband Ian have become the cornerstone for extending the impactful 'Sounds for the Future' project, a venture funded by a £250,000 National Lottery Heritage Fund grant. This initiative has been diligently cataloguing, digitally preserving, and engaging new audiences with the expansive East Midlands Oral History Archive collections, chronicling the modern history of Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland, and the broader East Midlands.

The Nicholas legacy gifts have enabled a pivotal extension of the project by an additional six months enabling the development of an enhanced program of outreach and public engagement, facilitating the preservation of newfound collections uncovered during the project.

In addition to outreach work, collections benefiting from the Nicholas legacy gifts include 150 recordings from the LeicestHERday Trust oral history project, 30 cassette tapes featuring interviews by Dr Lorna Chessum regarding the establishment of the African Caribbean community in Leicester (c. 1945-1981), oral history recordings related to the Century Mobile Theatre, interviews with veterans of the Royal Leicestershire Regiment, and various individual items within other collections. Notably, 284 BBC Radio Leicester tapes are scheduled for preservation, as they currently remain undigitised.

Veronica and Ian Nicholas' legacy gifts not only ensure the continued success of the ‘Sounds for the Future’ project but also underscore the preservation of crucial historical narratives. Learn more about the East Midlands Oral History Archive project.

Learn more about the transformative power of legacy giving or contact giftinwill@leicester.ac.uk.