About Us
The Manchester Room@City Library and the Greater Manchester County Record Office hold a wide range of material relating to the history of Manchester and family history.
The Manchester Room@City Library (Local Studies)
The Manchester Room holds a wide range of local history books, microfilm/microfiche and computer sources. No appointment is necessary to view the material. The sources available include:
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Lending and reference books and maps
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Church registers microfilms and free access to Ancestry.co.uk (including Manchester Cathedral parish registers)
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Cemetery register microfilms
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Manchester newspaper microfilms (including Manchester Evening News)
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Withington Workhouse / New Bridge Street Workhouse registers microfilms and free access to Findmypast.co.uk
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Electoral register microfilms
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Pre-1900 rate books on microfilm
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Census microfilms / microfiche
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National probate index on microfiche
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General Register Office microfiche indexes of births, marriages and deaths
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Electronic resources including the local image collection, free access to Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk, and CD-ROMs.
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 9am to 8pm, Friday and Saturday 9am to 5pm.
You can book a microform machine in advance. Please telephone 0161 234 1098 for microfilm / microfiche bookings.
Greater Manchester County Record Office (with Manchester Archives)
The Greater Manchester County Record Office holds archive collections for the region. It also houses the archive collections for Manchester City Archives.
Opening hours:
- Monday, Tuesday, Thursday 9am to 5pm
- Wednesday and Friday: Closed
- Saturday 9am to 5pm (second and fourth of the month only)
It is essential to book a place in advance. For collections stored on-site we require 24 hours notice and for collections stored offsite two weeks notice. To book a place please email or telephone us.
The most important and regularly-used original archive collections from the two services are stored on-site - these include:
- Church records
- Court records
- Hospital records
- Manchester City Council and Committee minutes
- Local Studies Broadside collection
The Greater Manchester County Record Office is a member of the County Archive Research Network (CARN), so a reader's ticket is essential. This can be obtained free of charge from the office. Please bring identification with you including your name, address and signature.
Please note that City Library and the Greater Manchester County Record Office will be closing temporarily between September 2013 and Spring 2014 in order to prepare for our big move to the new Central Library.
An exciting new-look Central Library, beautifully and sensitively restored, will re-open in Spring 2014. Archives+ in Central Library will bring together a detailed and fascinating picture of our region's past, housing materials from a range of partners, including the North West Film Archive, Greater Manchester County Record Office, Manchester and Lancashire Family History Society and the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust, under one roof. Access, storage, interpretation and display will all be hugely improved, providing a fitting showcase for Manchester's treasures.
Please note that we are unable to accept any new accessions to our collections until we re-open at Central Library in 2014.