East Midlands Oral History Archive
The Business world and retail
In the business world and retail theme, we have the following collections:
The Pat Keeling Collection
This collection comprises 30 oral history interviews and two radio broadcasts relating to Pat Keeling. It includes interviews with Pat, who managed a modelling agency in Leicester, and interviews conducted by her with people she met through work. The collection has been compiled by Pat over the course of her life.
Leicester Museums - Suits and Saris
This oral history collection comprises 35 interviews and 5 meetings with contributors to the Suits and Saris project conducted between March 2010 and December 2011 by Malika Kraamer. Interviews explore the relationship between British and South Asian Fashion and how traditional styles and textiles are translated on the high street.
Nation of Shopkeepers
This oral history collection comprises four interviews with shopkeepers in various shops in Derbyshire and Coventry. They were conducted in October 2009 as part of a project by photographer Maxine Beuret. Interviewees talk about the stock they sell, customers they attract, and history of the business.
Semper Eadem
These recordings were made to complement photographs taken by Maxine Beuret. This oral history collection comprises 17 interviews that cover the following locations: Kirby and West Dairies, Knighton Social Club, St Barnabas Library, Pavilion Cafe at Victoria Park, Cossington Baths, the Leicester Grill Cafe, Hat and Beaver Pub, Bob Warner's Cycle Shop, Lancaster Road Fire Station, The City Pharmacy, The Leicester Royal Infirmary, Ukrainian Church Rooms, Supreme Sewing Machines, Heads of Leicester (barbers), Ye Olde Sweet Shoppe, Alfred Lenton, Equity Shoes.
TH Wathes Collection
This oral history collection comprises 10 interviews. They were conducted with current and former employees of the Leicester company TH Wathes, and mainly cover the period 1935 to 1972, with two interviews focusing on recent developments. Subjects include: apprenticeship with the company; work in electrical engineering and refrigeration; the company and its ownership during this period, T.H. and H.S. Wathes; changes in work culture after World War Two.
Most of our larger collections also cover business and retail. For example, the Leicester Oral History Archive recorded memories of a variety of businesses and shops in Leicester, the Market Harborough Museum Collection looks at shops in Market Harborough, the Northampton Libraries collections cover shopping in the town and county.