The Black Diamond and Beyond: Hidden Hands and Healing Lands
A New Education Resource from Glamorgan Archives
Glamorgan Archives is an archive service based in south east Wales. We hold over 12km of records in our collection, dating back to the 12th century and reaching right up to the present day. These records relate to the geographical area that we cover, which includes the local authorities of Bridgend, Cardiff, Merthyr Tydfil, Rhondda Cynon Taff and the Vale of Glamorgan, along with the former Rhymney Valley area in Caerphilly.
Our collections reflect Glamorgan’s significant industrial heritage. Over recent years we’ve undertaken major cataloguing projects to improve the accessibility of these collections, which include records of the National Coal Board, Associated British Ports and the Cardiff Bay Development Corporation. We also received Anti-Racist Wales Culture Heritage and Sport funding from Welsh Government in 2023 to create a research guide to sources for the study of Minority Ethnic history in south Wales.
This past year, in particular, has seen an increase in the number of school visits to the Archives. The new curriculum has created a growing demand for locally relevant resources. Teachers are approaching us looking for primary source materials and opportunities with strong connections to their cynefin, along with resources which explore histories which may have been overlooked in the past, including those of people of Global Majority heritage.
In response to this demand, and as a means of drawing together the work done on past projects and making it accessible to a younger audience, we decided to create a new education resource for schools, with the aim of producing something immediately accessible for teachers to use in the classroom.
We applied successfully to Welsh Government’s Anti-Racist Wales Culture Fund for support which enabled us to work in collaboration with Anti-Racist educators Leon Andrews and Sian Smith, along with researchers and community consultants, to create this resource.
‘The Black Diamond and Beyond: Hidden Hands and Healing Lands’ is an innovative resource designed to inspire learners to explore the industrial past, present, and future of Wales. Through the lens of Glamorgan Archives’ records, the resource unearths hidden contributions across four themes:
- Natural Resources and Wealth
- Innovation and Ethics
- People and Places
- Health and Community Activism
Central to this resource is a challenge to traditional narratives.
The People and Places theme centres the roles of Global Majority heritage people, women, children, and animals, and is underpinned by two bespoke videos created by researcher Myya Helm exploring the history of Black miners. These films illustrate the global nature of the 19th-century coalfields, showing how the world came to Wales just as Wales went to the world.
The Innovation and Ethics theme interrogates who is celebrated or ignored in history. By exploring the ‘why’ behind these narratives, learners develop a critical lens while examining the necessity of ethically grounding innovation to ensure future community wellbeing.
Health and Community Activism celebrates the collective action that shaped a nation, highlighting Global Majority practitioners who pre-date the NHS. By reflecting on memorials, it invites learners to envision an inclusive landscape of remembrance that honours those historically overlooked.
The activities included are experiential and theme-focused to maximise cross-disciplinary learning and cynefin.
The bilingual resource is available to download from the Glamorgan Archives website, facilitating use by teachers in the classroom.
https://glamarchives.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/The-Black-Diamond-and-Beyond.pdf
It can also be complimented by class visits to Glamorgan Archives, where learners have the opportunity to engage with archivists and encounter original primary resources.
Thank you to Welsh Government for providing the funding which allowed us to create this resource through the Anti-Racist Wales Culture Fund.