Historic York archives open in new £2m home

The archives date back to the medieval period and its previous location in an annex next to the city’s art gallery was deemed inadequate in a report by the Public Record Office, now the National Archives, in 2000.

Today the York Explore Library Learning Centre opens its new £2.1m flagship service in the city centre including a store and reading room for the archive, as well as a refurbished local history library and family history centre. The building has also undergone essential repairs and conservation to its original parquet floor and slate roof and other works.

The city’s internationally-important archive was previously housed in overcrowded and damp rooms at York Art Gallery. The conditions placed historic documents, including the city’s first charter dated 1155 and its letter of condolence after the death of King Richard III, at risk.

Space for visitors was very limited, with staff, volunteers and researchers confined to a single room while school visits and other events were almost impossible.

The project has received support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

Fiona Spiers, Head of Heritage Lottery Fund Yorkshire and the Humber, said: “Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players the future of one of the UK’s most important city archives has been secured and its new home means even more people can access over 800 centuries of information about York and the people who live here. We are proud to support this project.”

Coun Sonja Crisp, York Council’s cabinet member for leisure, culture and tourism, said: “Now the Archive has the city centre home that it deserves, thanks to £1,574,200 grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a further £516,927 from City of York Council.”

Not all of the city’s 300 cubic metres of archives will be available to look at straight away as this work to catalogue and preserve the material continues throughout 2015 and beyond. People can find out what is available and when on Explore’s website: www.exploreyork.org.uk.

Victoria Hoyle, city archivist said: “This is a fabulous new beginning for the Archives.

“The grant from the HLF and ongoing support from the council have allowed us to create these new facilities, which give us the capacity to vastly increase the number of people who can discover and enjoy York’s history while also preserving the collections for future generations.”

York Explore is at Library Square. York’s libraries and archives transferred out of York Council to become Explore, a not-for-profit society, in May last year.

Explore is one third owned by its staff, while the other two thirds will be owned by its community members. The independent society aims to keep all of York’s 14 libraries, two reading cafes and mobile library open.