Oldham Local Studies and Archive
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Opening hours: Mon, Thurs 10am-7pm; Tues 10am-2pm; Wed, Fri 10am-5pm; Sat 10am-2pm. Main entrance is on Union Street with ramped disabled access via a separate entrance on Greaves Street.
Oldham Local Studies and Archives collects and preserves for public use material relating to Oldham Metropolitan Borough, which includes the districts of Failsworth, Crompton, Royton, Chadderton, Lees and Saddleworth. Collections held include books, pamphlets, photographs, maps, newspapers, oral history and archives. Small local history collections are also available at come of Oldham's community libraries including Crompton, Failsworth, Royton, Chadderton, Uppermill and Lees.
The history of Oldham since the industrial revolution is one of dramatic change, from obscure Pennine village to cotton spinning capital of the world in the space of two generations. Oldham's industrial history includes hatting, coal mining, textile machinery manufacture and cotton spinning. Oldham's recent history has seen the development of new industries to replace cotton, and the integration of new cultural traditions and religions.
Local studies collections include over 16,000 books and pamphlets covering all aspects of Oldham's history and the cotton industry. Maps cover Oldham's development from the 18th century to date. Over 20,000 images document the way people have lived in Oldham over the last 150 years and include photographs of textile machinery, interior and exterior views of mills and mill workers. Newspapers (available on microfilm) include Oldham Chronicle (1854 to date) and the Oldham Standard (1859 -1946). The history of Oldham as told through its residents, including memories of mill workers, is available in the oral history collection.
Oldham's archives consist of just under one mile of records, dating back to 1633, relating to the history of the area now defined as Oldham Metropolitan Borough. The records have come from a rich and diverse range of sources and cover a wide variety of topics, and are available for use by everybody, free of charge.
The cotton collections have recently been enhanced by the addition of the library from Oldham and Rochdale Textile Employers' Association. Material held includes Yorkshire and Lancashire textile industry directories, cotton trade directories, journals such as the Textile Recorder and Annual Journal of the National Federation of Textile Works Managers' Associations, cotton statistics, company histories, technical works, catalogues and sales literature of textile engineering companies and reports on the cotton industry.
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