Manchester City Council

Please note that the closure of Manchester Archives and Local Studies will start to happen from 25 February as a result of Central Library's temporary closure for renovation and refurbishment in Spring 2010.

Information about Archives and Local Studies services while Central Library is closed.

More information about Central Library's temporary closure.

Manchester Archives and Local Studies is committed to making its collections available as widely as possible on the internet. In particular we are working on making material available for use in schools and colleges.

• In 2008-2009 we worked on a 19th Century Public Health Project (Year 9) with King David High School. Teaching resources from this project are available.
• In 2008 we worked with Year 9 pupils from North Manchester High School for Girls on a creative writing project. 
• Our collection of over 80,000 local images is available on the internet. The Local Image Collection contains mainly phototgraphs, but also some prints and drawings. It shows pictures of the people, streets and buildings of Manchester from the 18th centuy to the present day. The selection of images arranged by subject is particularly useful for educational purposes, with its 200 images listed under subjects such as the cotton industry, Victorian Manchester and World War Two.
• We were major participants in a project to make cotton industry records available on the Spinning the Web (external site) website
• In October 2003, in partnership with Trinity High School, Manchester and local author Joe Pemberton, we produced a resource pack with images, text and worksheets for pupils studying Citizenship. Picture Book Moss Side looks at the changing face of urban society
• Moving Here Schools . This site offers free and unparalleled access to first-hand experiences of migrants in the UK. It includes a broad range of learning resources, including interactive activities, has been designed to be used across the school curriculum. The site is ideal to support pupils at Key Stage 2 and 3 (ages 8-14) for History, Geography, Citizenship and ICT. We were a partner in this project.
• 'The Story of Juba Royton' - an on-line exhibition about an African living in Royton in the 1700s.