WORK Records

WORK Records is an innovative collaboration between contemporary art and heritage, exploring historic working lives at three ‘family’ firms in the East Midlands, through the 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 currently in production on three short animated films inspired by this research.

The films will premiere, along with a film about the project by Christopher Bevan, at a special event at Derby Museum & Art Gallery, on the afternoon of Saturday, 12 September 2026. Artists Kate Anderson and Saul Pankhurst, and Jane Middleton-Smith, Archivist at the John Smedley Archive, will be in conversation. Check back for more details.

You’ll be able to watch the films here in the autumn. And there’ll be lots more to explore: writing – by Stefan Ramsden, the WORK Records Project Historian, and some of our volunteers, and 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.

In the meantime, you can follow our posts on Instagram.