Where do you start?
Research
By Susan Flood
Ask the neighbours! You may be surprised that people who have lived in the garden city for a long time may know quite a lot about the development of their area. Do you have any documents yourself? Such as title deeds, copies of planning applications or sale particulars. It is always wise to begin your research by looking at information that you have already. Where would you go next?
Welwyn Garden City Library – the library at Campus West holds extensive collections of printed books, directories, newspapers, photographs and maps covering the garden city.
HALS – holds the archives of the Panshanger estate (Ref: DE/P), the Welwyn Garden City Pioneering Companies (Ref: DE/Es, DE/Ff), the local authorities (Ref: UDC21) and Commission for the New Towns (Ref: CNT/WH). In addition the personal papers of Sir Ebenezer Howard (Ref: DE/Ho) and Sir Frederic Osborn (Ref: DE/FJO) are held at HALS.
Mill Green Museum – looks after objects of importance to the history of the area and a large collection of posters and photographs.
Internet – just searching on Welwyn Garden City via Google can produce a long list of items. Even Wikipedia has an article about the history of Welwyn Garden City.
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