A Journey Through Time: 70 Years of Archiving East Yorkshire

This year the East Riding Archives and Local Studies service celebrates seven decades of preserving the past! Let’s embark on a nostalgic journey back to 1953 when the doors to this cultural trove first swung open as the East Riding County Record Office at County Hall, Beverley.

1950s-1960s

In the early 1950s, a nationwide movement sought to safeguard our historical treasures for future generations. The East Riding County Record Office was born, and with it, the appointment of Norman Higson as the region’s first County Archivist. Their mission: to protect the valuable and unique documentary record of East Riding history.

In its infancy, the archive mainly housed official council records and documents from:

• The Court of Quarter Sessions (Q),
• East Riding Lieutenancy (LT),
• School Boards (SB),
• Commissioners of Sewers for the East Riding (CSR),
• Turnpike Trusts (TT*), and
• the towns of Hedon (DDHE) and Beverley (DDBC).
• Parishes were also encouraged to contribute their registers.

Initially, the archive consisted of approximately 3000 records and was housed in two small strongrooms and three other rooms at County Hall. However, the demand quickly outgrew the space.

In September 1954, the first purpose-adapted premises on Cross Street, Beverley became home, marking a significant expansion. Within a year, over three thousand documents were retrieved, attracting researchers and students alike, as predicted by County Archivist Norman Higson:

“These visits and queries will increase as more material becomes available and the resources better known.”

Norman Higson, County Archivist, 1954

By January 1955, it was formally recognized as an official repository for manorial records, such as court rolls, pains and presentments, estreats and call rolls documenting how a manor was governed. Around this time, private collections also began to be deposited, including the extensive family papers of the Chichester-Constables of Burton Constable Hall which is still one of our largest collections today (see DDCC). The archive’s research room was also bustling with visits from renowned academics like A L Rowse and C V Wedgewood, along with international researchers.

1970s-1980s

In 1974, amid restructuring, the service underwent a name change to Humberside County Record Office. In 1976, after the closure of the Registry of Deeds, the archive adopted the additional responsibility of preserving their records, which included over 4,000 registers. To accommodate this expansion, the public searchroom found its new home in the former Registry building, and mobile shelving was installed in the strongrooms.

The Parochial Registers and Records Measure of 1978 made it compulsory for parish records of the Anglican Archdeaconry of the East Riding (see PE collections) to be deposited with the county record office, promoting an influx of records after this law came into force (we now hold over 200 parish church collections!).

1990s-2000s

In 1996 the service then became known as the East Riding Archives when, due to government reorganisation, Humberside County Council was replaced by the East Riding of Yorkshire Council.

The dream of a purpose-built archive building began taking shape in 1999, championed by Keith Holt, the county archivist from 1974 to 1998, and continued by Ian Mason, Archives Manager from 1999 to 2014. In April 2000, as an interim measure, the service relocated its public service to the chapel on Lord Roberts Road (now home to the East Riding Theatre).

In 2007, with thanks to a successful Heritage Lottery Fund grant, another turning point came with the construction of the Treasure House, a multi-functional cultural hub housing the East Riding Archives, Treasure House Museum, Cafe, Beverley Library, and Beverley Art Gallery. The Beverley Local Studies library also merged with the East Riding Archives, bringing a collection of published secondary sources into our care that complement the archival records.

Since then, the Treasure House has stood as a beacon of preservation, offering controlled environmental conditions to protect our cherished documented heritage, and in 2023 a growing, publicly-accessible Digital Archive —a dream that seemed impossible in 1953.

The Treasure House in 2023

In 70 years, our holdings have grown from a collection of 3000 to over 450,000 catalogued records documenting East Riding history from the 12th-century to the present day, now searchable on our online catalogue. We have progressed greatly in terms of collections care and management, access and outreach, which has contributed to us becoming an Accredited Archive Service in 2017.

Researchers now visit from all around the world, tracing their ancestors, local history and everything in between! We have an innovative mobile app and website ‘What Was Here‘, and deliver talks and workshops to community groups and schools.

You can even take a virtual tour of the East Riding Archives research room as it was in June 2023, just before the start of the Transformation project (huge thanks to our volunteers for posing very still for the 360 degree photography)- you could say that this snapshot in time is a ‘record’ in its own right of how the archives looked and operated.

Here’s to many more years of safeguarding the past for the generations yet to come, and we look forward to the next phase of the East Riding Archives after the exciting Treasure House Transformation!

Other links: Read more on the Transformation project at the Treasure House.