Community History in Telford & Wrekin

The Community History Centre at the Wellington Library (01952 382990) holds the main collection for Telford & Wrekin including the Wellington Journal on microfilm; Ordnance Survey and tithe maps.

 Digital history – ‘Telford Our New Town – creating a digital archive’. Photographs, and films showing Telford’s development from the 1960s-1980s on the digital table at Southwater Library. Digitised editions of the Dawley/Telford Observer are searchable on computers at Southwater and Wellington 1963 – 1984. www.telfordournewtown.co.uk

 Events see the library website for details of current events www.telford.gov.uk/libraries

Volunteer Drop-In: Help getting you started with your family or local history searches:

Wellington Library – Fridays 11 am – 12:30 pm.

Southwater Library Thursdays 11 am – 12:30 pm.

Library members have free access to Ancestry Library and Find My Past – the Shropshire Collection on Library computers.

 Virtual Library: contains a Community History section providing details about what is held in our libraries including a range of online reference resources accessible from home. www.telford.gov.uk/libraries/communityhistory

Shropshire Archives

Shropshire Archives is the archives and local studies service for the historic county of Shropshire, which includes the Borough of Telford and Wrekin.  As well as 5 ½ miles of shelving holding local material from 12th century charters right up to yesterday’s Shropshire Star, the Service works closely with library services and voluntary societies to co-ordinate local studies provision.

The service is open to researchers Wednesday – Friday 10am-4pm, and on the first Saturday in the month 10am-4pm. As well as helpful staff, volunteers from Shropshire Family History Society are on hand from 10am-1pm, whenever the service is open.

Shropshire Archives, Castle Gates, SHREWSBURY, SY1 2AQ

Telephone: 0345 678 9096

Email: archives@shropshire.gov.uk

Web site: http://www.shropshire.gov.uk/archives.nsf

There are other libraries within the Borough of Telford & Wrekin with local studies collections. The Library of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust is an excellent resource for those researching the local mining and iron-working industries, transport and the decorative arts. It currently holds around 40,000 books and over 200 archival collections. Access is by appointment with the Curator.

Telephone: 01952 432141

Email: library@ironbridge.org.uk

British Association for Local History

The forum is a member of BALH  http://www.balh.org.uk/