Local Studies and Archives Centre Move
Local Studies and Archives Centre Moves to New Home
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The Local Studies and Archives Centre has moved into new purpose-built premises in Ashton-under-Lyne following the completion of this £1million project. For the first time, all the archival materials are stored on one site in state-of-the-art environmentally controlled conditions.
The service was previously located at Stalybridge Library where conditions were extremely cramped with storage cellars prone to damp and on occasion to flooding.
The new Centre was opened by Allan Beswick, BBC GMR broadcaster and Councillor R.S. Oldham CBE, Executive Leader of the Council on 11th March 2005.
The LSAC holds records of local authorities, businesses, families, leisure organisations, churches and chapels, public utilities, the Manchester Regiment and many other organisations. There are also microfilm copies of records held elsewhere and local authority records previously held in Preston County Records Office.
The collection includes books, pamphlets, journals, maps, photographs, oral history and music sound recordings. The book collection covers all the towns of Tameside, the districts of Greater Manchester, and the counties of Lancashire, Cheshire and Derbyshire. Local history topics such as the Industrial Revolution, the cotton industry, Chartism, women's history and Lancashire dialect are also covered. The earliest archives date back to the 1600s and some form collections which are of national and regional significance such as The Manchester Regiment Collection and The Manchester Studies Tapes.
Researchers come from all over the world to study the development of the first industrial towns and it is now a research collection to undergraduate level and beyond on local aspects of economic and social history. The range of services has expanded and the boom in family history and local history has led to record levels of use of the library.
The new building means that the archive collection will be held in proper storage conditions that comply with the British Standard, conserving them for the benefit of future generations. It also means that for the first time the whole of the collection is housed together on one site and allows for expansion of the continually growing collection.
The reading room houses eight microfilm readers, including two reader-printers, four fiche readers, six computers and a photocopier for customers to use.
For the benefit of customers, the reading room is fully accessible with ramp access, accessible toilet, a hearing loop system, a CCTV document scanner/enlarger and facilities for the use of laptops. We also provide lockers for personal belongings as well as a refreshment area in the adjacent atrium.
Text Only Version
Tameside's local studies and archives service was founded in 1976, and has been based at Stalybridge Library.
It brought together all the local history collections owned by the area's councils, which amalgamated in 1974 to form Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council.
Archives are all types of documentary records... any paperwork that records the lives and activities of people or organisations.
It can be a collection of private letters, diaries and photographs, or perhaps council records or tape recordings of people reminiscing.
The archives include important national collections such as the Manchester Regiment, or the Stamford Estate. In fact, almost anything, from as far back as the early 1600s to present day can be found there.
The collection quickly expanded from the 1970s as material was added, and more stores had to be found. It coincided with a big increase in the popularity of local and family history, as we moved through the 80s and 90s.
But it became clear that unfortunately Stalybridge Library just couldn't cope with the numbers of people converging, from all over the world, to make use of the invaluable material.
Another problem was that storage conditions in basement cellars at Stalybridge, and at the former Heginbottom Technical School, weren't up to the standard needed for preserving such fragile historical documents. The cellars were damp and often flooded, while both buildings were full to capacity.
Matters came to a head in July 2002 when a flash flood sent water from the drains pouring into the basement at Stalybridge. Luckily staff were on duty to prevent the archives from being damaged, but it was a close call and prompted an urgent search for new and better premises for the collection.
Eventually, it was decided to go ahead with a purpose built centre next to the central Library in Ashton-under-Lyne. Work started in the winter of 2003 and was finished the following autumn. Then it was time for the big move.
The actual move took only two and half weeks, but the planning and preparations took months. Moving archives isn't easy, and great care had to be taken to make sure none of the documents were either damaged or lost. The items also had to be kept in order.
The priority was to find the right kind of removal firm for the move which would be split into three parts...first the contents of Stalybridge's reading room would be transferred...then material from the Stalybridge cellars...and finally items from the technical school.
Johnson's Business Removals were finally given the job, after talks with several companies. They had the greatest experience of moving archives, which is a much more specialist task than a standard house removal.
The next step was to organise correct positions and sort out easy access for all the items. In a difficult and complicated operation, each item was listed and numbered.
So, too, were all the shelves in the new building, in a process that took months.
The new building's an important achievement, not just for Tameside, but the whole of the north west. It's the first purpose built storage area for archives to be opened for nearly 40 years.
It's the only archive storage unit in Greater Manchester, and one of only a few in the north west, that meets the strict British standard set for keeping such material.
It's impressive evidence of Tameside Council's commitment to preserving the area's history and it's something which the people of Tameside should be proud of. It's already been praised by other organisations.
Features of the new building include a much larger public reading room, with double the microfilm readers and computers than at Stalybridge. Refreshments and lockers are also available.
The official opening of the state of the art building tooks weeks to plan.
The ceremony took place on Friday March 11th , 2005. Councillor Roy Oldham, CBE, Executive leader of Tameside Council, introduced Allan Beswick, one of BBC GMR's leading presenters, who unveiled the plaque.
Guests included the Mayor and Mayoress of Tameside, as well as councillors and officers, local history organisations, writers, historians, genealogists and representatives from the Manchester Regiment.
Afterwards, there was a tour of the centre and the adjoining library.
The archives were brought to life for the guests, and a lot of interest was shown in the council's many publications.
By remarkable coincidence, the Canadian poet and author Sheree Fitch arrived at the library on the same day, and described her search for John Hindley of Ashton-under-Lyne, who appears in her latest book "The Gravesavers".
And now that the local studies centre is finally open, public interest is at fever pitch, especially as the service has been closed for nearly six months.
Researchers are busy using the new facilities, and advance bookings and inquiries show that people interested in local studies and archives will be flocking to Ashton-under-Lyne in even greater numbers than before, to view treasures from the past.
Sheree Fitch
John Hindley was a real boy and the ship wreck that happened on April 1st 1873. it was the wreck of the SS Atlantic and was the largest marine disaster before the Titanic. Not very many people know about it, a lot of people know about the titanic of course, but the Atlantic was huge world news at the time. And the tragic thing about that was that it hapended very close to land, so there were a lot of people who were saved and rescued that night and many were lost. John hidley was the only boy to survived, all the women and children died. And when he was interviewed for the local paper, we have a record of him saying he was from Ashton-under-Lyne, England.
Roy Oldham
It's another day for Tameside to see another building, this time a new one opened. And we seem to be doing so much particularly on the historical side.
Allan Beswick
The thing that caught my attention were all these people that had been in our town. Arkwright, we all know Arkwright don't we? Arkwright. Cotton, mining, Stevenson's engines, Brunels bridges, people I've heard of people like me. It suddenly became about people, and then history got wonderful.