WORK Records explores historic working lives at three ‘family’ firms in the East Midlands, through the heritage collections at the John Smedley Archive, Corby Heritage Centre, and Derbyshire Record Office.
Three “investigative” teams of heritage curators, historians, artists, and volunteers, have researched working lives at knitwear factory John Smedley, packaging company Robinson and Sons in Chesterfield, and steel tube manufacturer Stewarts & Lloyds Ltd in Corby.
Artists Kate Anderson, Kim Noce, and Saul Pankhurst, are making short animated films which will launch in September 2026, and you’ll be able to watch them on this website later in the autumn.
Alongside the films, you’ll be able to watch a film by Derby filmmaker Christopher Bevan documenting the project. And this website will have information about the three firms, the archives, the films, and the artists who made them.
There’ll be writing – by Stefan Ramsden, the WORK Records Project Historian, and by some of our volunteers - and there are also extracts from interviews with former workers. We’ll have timeline will place the histories of the three firms and their workers in context, and a resources page for further exploration.
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