Teesside Archives collects, catalogues and preserves records and documents relating to the areas of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Hartlepool, and Redcar & Cleveland, and makes them accessible for research. We hold a vast range of records and documents relating to the Teesside area on themes such as:
- Internationally renowned businesses and companies such as British Steel, ICI, Head Wrightson and Furness Shipbuilding as well as many smaller firms
- Churches, parishes and other religious groups
- Courts
- Estate records including the Pennyman Family of Ormesby Hall
- Hospitals
- Land ownership and deeds including those of the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate
- Local councils and their predecessor bodies
- Local organisations including charities, sports clubs, political parties, entertainment etc.
- Schools
- Shipping
The collections include a variety of records including:
- deeds
- correspondence files
- financial records
- maps
- minutes of meetings
- oral histories
- photographs and negatives
- plans
- publications
The earliest record in the archive dates from the 12th century but the bulk of our records date from the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, and we continue to collect records up to the modern day.
All archives reflect their local communities by their very existence, acting as a repository for records of economic and social development and showing how communities change with time. There are some real treasures in the Teesside Archives collections including the documents of the Owners of the Middlesbrough Estate, a group of local businessmen largely led by members of the Quaker Pease Family. They profoundly changed the landscape of the Tees Valley through the building of Middlesbrough as an industrial giant and port and the creation of the seaside resort of Saltburn on the cliff tops above the North Sea. The archives cover the full range of social class from the landed gentry of the Pennymans of Ormesby Hall and their political interests to the voices of working class people born in the early days of the 20th century recorded in our oral history collection. With their detailed memories of family and working life in industrial towns including during the two world wars, the oral histories recorded in the 1980’s give a poignant insight in to long lost communities and cultures, hardship and celebration.
Thousands of photographs, slides and negatives give a unique glimpse in to work and leisure time and the flurry of development that marked the late 1960’s and 1970’s. Beautifully drawn plans of public buildings show attention to detail which helped to create a unique local identity for the regional towns and villages.
The Tees Valley can rightly claim to have built the world through its iron and steel industry and the internationally important British Steel Collection is a particular highlight, showing the construction of buildings and bridges across the globe as well as recording the working life of its huge workforce.
For a more detailed insight in to our collections, please visit the blog at https://teessidearchives.wordpress.com/ and the website at https://www.middlesbrough.gov.uk/leisure-events-libraries-and-hubs/teesside-archives.