17 Sep Essex Record Office Marconi exhibition coming to High Chelmer shopping centre
AN Essex Record Office exhibition celebrating Guglielmo Marconi and the Marconi Company is to be held from Friday 24 – Monday 27 September in the High Chelmer shopping centre.
Following Guglielmo Marconi making the first ever transatlantic wireless communication – which was received in Newfoundland, Canada, in 1897 – he founded the Marconi Company in Hall Street in 1898, both of which have an important significance in Chelmsford’s, and the county’s, industrial heritage.
The Essex Record Office exhibition, which is part of the project ‘Communicating Connections: Sharing the heritage of the Marconi Company’s wireless world’, will be held in the central area of the High Chelmer shopping centre, Chelmsford, during the four days.
Featuring a visual and audio display of Guglielmo Marconi and his company, as well as quotations and stories from those who were employed at Marconi’s, the exhibition will be showcasing some of the wireless equipment which made Marconi’s famous.
The project has also seen the Essex Record Office digitise a selection from over 150,000 images – some of which will be used in the exhibition – while ERO volunteers have interviewed 30 people who were employed by the Marconi Company to learn more about their working lives, relationships and memories.
Visitors will be able to hear extracts of the Marconi employees’ stories as a listening post is to be installed as part of the exhibition.
Having received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, as well as from Chelmsford City Council’s Essex 2020 fund, the Essex Record Office is to also develop an audio trail app that members of the public can download.
Councillor Graham Butland, Essex County Council Cabinet Member for Devolution, the Arts, Heritage and Culture, said: “This is a wonderful project and one which I am excited to see as it brings to life the story of Guglielmo Marconi and his wireless communications company.
“The work of Guglielmo Marconi and how he came to make the first ever transatlantic wireless communication is a fascinating story, from both a telecommunications and historical point of view. I would encourage everyone to visit the exhibition and learn more about Marconi and his company as it a very important part of Chelmsford’s, as well as the county’s, industrial heritage.”
