An alumnus and former lecturer at Swansea is returning to the campus to launch an Archive Awareness Exhibition.

Aberavon MP Hywel Francis (pictured) will open the exhibition, called 'Routes to Roots', on Friday, November 12th.

It is part of the National Archives Awareness Campaign 2004 and coincides with the screening of the BBC series 'Who Do You Think You Are?', where celebrities discover the truth about their family trees.

University archivist Elisabeth Bennet said: 'Archives are created by people and can tell us both about individual people and about the part they played in history. Archives can bring families together as people follow their family trees, often with surprising and unexpected results.

'The exhibition includes the Leo Price Collection and the Portable Theatre Collection. The two are remarkable examples of families who made contact with the university to discover more about their families' past,' she added.

The Leo Price Collection centres on the life of a collier from Abertillery who was involved in a number of important incidents in the South Wales Coalfield, and who fought in the Spanish Civil War.

Elected as MP

The Portable Theatre Collection is a rare archive relating to two family theatres 'Ebley's and Latimer's ' whose owners were related by marriage.

The exhibition is free and will be open in eth library on campus until Thursday, November 18th.

It then moves to the South Wales Miners' Library at the Hendrefoelan campus until Saturday, December 4th.

Hywel Francis graduated from Swansea with a degree in History in 1968. He later lectured at the university, prior to being elected an MP in 2001.

He is also president of the South Wales Miners' Library.

You can find out more by contacting the main university archive on 01792 295021 or the miners' library on 01792/518603/518693.