Our Publications
Our project paperback ‘Bristol: Ethnic Minorities and the City 1000-2001’ is now available to buy.
Bristol has always been ethnically diverse but this aspect of its history has never before been systematically traced over such a long period. Research in Bristol charts 1001 years of the presence and experience of ethnic minorities in the city. How were they received, how did they survive and how did they affect the city’s sense of its own identity?
The Bristol EPE project is an investigation of the cultural and social life of ethnic minorities in the city as well as an analysis of the political reactions their presence has generated. It features, where possible, the personal accounts and perspectives of established residents, the immigrants themselves and their Bristol-born descendants, to complement those provided by official government documents and academic studies.
The project makes use of a wide range of historical sources including:
- Business and estate records
- Family trees and other genealogical material
- Personal papers such as diaries, account books and letters
- Local government, police and court records
- Religious and community group records
- School log books and medical records
- Printed sources such as newspapers, trade directories, playbills, political campaign literature, and posters
- National datasets such as the census, taxation, naturalisation and custom records
- Photographs, paintings and artefacts
- Maps, plans and architects drawings
- Folktales, folk remedies, jokes and songs
- Oral testimonies and recorded interviews
