‘Scary, dusty, musty?’

An Introduction to the West Yorkshire Archive Service

Catherine Taylor, E-Services CoordinatorWednesday 23rd March 2011

This afternoon

Talk a little about me and where an Archivist comes from.

Try and answer the question “what are archives?” and “what does an archive service do?

Talk a little about West Yorkshire Archive Service

Guide you through what to expect when you visit us

Very briefly try to give a flavour of some of things we hold

How did I get here?

Been with WYAS for just over 4 years Graduated from Lancaster University in

1998 Various bits of archive experience Formal archive qualification from the

University of Aberystwyth 1999-2000 Over ten years experience in different

archive services – initially in London and then here. First at Wakefield and later as E-Services Coordinator

What are Archives?

Everybody creates and uses records in the course of business & everyday life

A small subset of these records will be worthy of permanent preservation

Parchment, paper, photographs, film, electronic records- all are potential archives

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What does the Archive Service do?

Provides secure & environmentally monitored storage

Catalogues and indexes

Access and advice for researchers

Conservation facilities

Conservation tools

Japanese visitors at Kirklees

West Yorkshire Archive Service

Began as the West Yorkshire County Record Office in 1974

In 1986 became part of West Yorkshire Joint Services as part of the Heritage division

Funded proportionally by the five district authorities in West Yorkshire

WYAS Offices

2 Chapeltown RoadSheepscar

Central LibraryPrincess Alexandra Walk

Huddersfield

West Yorkshire Archives: Leeds

West Yorkshire Archives: Kirklees

WYAS Offices

Prince’s WayBradford

Central Library, HalifaxNorthgate

Halifax

West Yorkshire Archives: Bradford

West Yorkshire Archives: Calderdale

WYAS Offices

The Registry of DeedsNewstead Road

Wakefield

West Yorkshire Archives: Wakefield

Statistically speaking…

In 2009-2010 we:• Said hello to 12,303 visitors• Retrieved and issued 22,193 original

documents• Opened 2,937 items of post• Replied to 6,989 emails• Answered the phone 14,082 times• Accessioned 345 new items or collections =

32m3

• Managed to consume well over 2,500 cups of tea and over 1,700 cups of coffee. And incalculable numbers of biscuits and cakes!

Opening times

Recommend making an appointment

Wakefield: Open Monday 9.30 am – 8 pm2nd and 4th Mondays 9.30 am – 8 pm

Tuesday 9.30 am – 5 pmThursday 9.30 am – 5

pm2nd Saturday in month 9.30 am – 1 pm

For our other offices look at our website www.archives.wyjs.org.uk

Or there are some leaflets available at the end

May have to press a buzzer to get in Place your coats, bags etc in a locker if one is

available CARN ticket scheme

Nationwide reader registration scheme improves security for our documents

Need identification stating name, address and signature – driving licence most convenient!

Cards last for four years and can be used at over 70 archive services in England and Wales

Please don’t bring any coats, bags, pens, water, sweets, cough medicine, gum, fruit pastilles, stanley knives (!) into the archive reading room

Visiting us – on arrival

Visiting us – how to order material Check with staff whether anything is waiting for you

already

Ask a member of staff to give a quick run through of how the catalogues and ordering system works

Don’t worry if you find them a little confusing at first Our catalogues are listed to an international standard, so

once you have got the hang of it you’ll find them all pretty much the same

See if there’s one of our user guides to help you Available from staff at the office or Download the lot, for free, from our website.

Visiting us – what format is it on?

o Very little of what we hold has been digitised – though we are working on that

o Popularly used records such as parish registers, some electoral registers and Will indexes may be on microfiche –

o Cuts down wear and tear on the originalso Enables us to have copies in more than one locationo Enables us to provide photocopies without causing

damage to the originalo May also have a transcribed copy or an index,

especially of parish registers.

Visiting us – Handling records

What if I can’t get to the archives?

o Able to offer ten minute research free of charge so:

o Get in touch by email, letter, telephone – we don’t mind!

o Very popular service – main way we have contact with our users

o 30 minute search service for simple look-ups

o Research Service for more complex queries also available

o Just ask us – we’re here to help!

Local Authority & Official Records

Local Board & Urban District Council pre 1974

School records Township records Poor Law Unions

Workmen’s dwellings at Moldgreen 1913

Huddersfield Union Workhouse

Church Records

Church of England Wakefield, Bradford

& Ripon and Leeds dioceses

Nonconformist Methodist Baptist Congregational &

Independent Presbyterian Unitarian Roman Catholic

Dewsbury Parish Church

Bastardy Bond

Maps, Plans & Surveys

Enclosure Awards Tithe Maps Ordnance Survey Estate Surveys

Austonley Township Map 1801

Family & Estate Records

Family & Estate records: Title deeds,

accounts, leases, maps, rentals, surveys

Manorial records Court Rolls/Latin Whitley Beaumont

Survey Book 1820

Slaithwaite Manor Court Roll 1544

Business Records

S Crawshaw & Sons, Dewsbury

Bentley’s Yorkshire Breweries

Burdon & Wilkinson, Cabinet makers Huddersfield

Clubs & Societies

Crosland Hill Knitting Circle 1940

South Elmsall Inner Wheel

Countywide Records at Wakefield

Electoral Registers Petty Sessions West Riding Quarter

Sessions Hospital Records Prison Records West Riding &

Yorkshire Metropolitan County Council records

Registry of Deeds An inmate of Calder Farm Reformatory School

The Registry of Deeds in figures:

13,000 memorial volumes7 million deeds14 million pages21,000 deeds registered in the first twenty years of the registry2.7 million deeds registered in the last twenty

Any questions?

• Preserve the past

• Serve the present

• Protect the future