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Archive Awareness has just launched its 'Take Flight' campaign, celebrating local links to manmade flights and the movement of people.

Throughout the autumn and winter, archives across the country have teamed up with local groups and communities to highlight their rich and diverse heritage in air travel, migration and human endeavour.

Discovering history

'Everyone has a history, and archives have got a bit of yours,' Angela Owusu, Archive Awareness Campaign Officer, said. 'The Archive Awareness Campaign offers something for everyone and gives people a unique chance to play detective and reinterpret the past themselves. Diverse events are being held all over, from exhibitions to talks, discovery tours and even a chance to speak to an aviation hero from the First World War in person!'

Historical events and individuals being commemorated in the Take Flight campaign include American explorers Robert Peary and Matthew Henson - the first men to reach the North Pole, the first non-stop transatlantic flight in 1919 and the 40th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.

Local links

Geoff Pick, Chairman of the National Council on Archives said: 'Take Flight is an imaginative theme open to wide interpretation. As well as commemorating industrial, innovative and scientific developments across the country, we are especially celebrating this year local links with aviation, the flight of people around the world and even "flights of fancy".'

Visit archiveawareness.com/events and discover the events and exhibitions happening across the country.