Interwar Plymouth in 48 rare photographs

If you have ever wondered what Plymouth looked like before the Blitz changed it for good, there is a quiet corner of the city centre worth a visit. The Box, the archive, museum and art gallery that sits in the middle of town, is showing 'Plymouth in the 1920s and 30s: a rare photographic journey through the city's interwar years', a collection of 48 rare photographs that take in the daily life of the city during those two decades. It is a nostalgic look at the streets and the people who lived on them before the Second World War, and it gives you a real sense of how much the place transformed in the years leading up to the conflict.

The exhibition is only one part of what The Box does. The building itself is a bit of a story: it was developed in 2020 at a cost of £47 million, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Plymouth City Council, Arts Council England and a range of foundations and trusts, and it brought together the old City Museum & Art Gallery, the Central Library and St Luke's Church into thirteen galleries and exhibition spaces, plus strongrooms, learning and research facilities, a kitchen and bar, a shop and a new public square. It took over the service that the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office used to run, and it is a Place of Deposit under the Public Records Act 1958, which means it holds things like magistrates' court records, coroner inquests and NHS hospital records for the Plymouth area.

If the photographs leave you wanting to dig deeper, the archives are open to anyone willing to do a bit of legwork. The Cottonian Research Room is a free space to look through records, and it also houses the Cottonian Collection, a proper hoard of historic furniture, paintings, prints, books and sculptures from the 16th to the 19th centuries. To get a space you need to search the online catalogue first, note the reference numbers and book by email or on 01752 308880; reservations are provisional until a member of staff confirms them, though walk-ins are accepted within opening hours. You will need photographic ID with your name, address and signature, and you have to re-register every three years. If you want to photograph records for personal use, a one-day licence is £5 and can be bought online or at the headquarters shop, with weekly, monthly and annual licences available too. If you cannot make it in person, digital copies can be bought through the Image and Film Service.

There are a few other things worth knowing before you go. The Box holds the 'Songs of the West' manuscript collection of Devon folk songs, gathered by Sabine Baring-Gould in the 1800s. In the Active Archives gallery, an interactive map table lets you flick through digital versions of old Plymouth and OS maps, and there is a digitised copy of the original Plymouth Bomb Book, which recorded where bombs fell during the Second World War, complete with images from the Blitz and witness testimonies. The original Bomb Book is on display in the gallery as well. Family history research is free on the public computers there, with free access to Ancestry and Findmypast and no booking needed. And if you want to see how the whole place works, behind-the-scenes tours of the archives and stores last an hour and are led by the Senior Archivist, with tickets sold in the online shop.