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Over the course of two meetings we visited the Local Studies Centre at Sparth, taking the opportunity to learn about the material that is held in the collection as we begin to undertake more detailed research our chosen themes for the Dining Room Space.
Local Studies holds the main Local Studies and Archives collection for Rochdale Borough. The Collection dates to the late 1800s when, having realised the value of early administrative companies and family records, the borough librarian began to store material of this nature in deed boxes – one of the earliest items in the Collection is a land grant in Todmorden dating from 1318.
Over the years the Collection has grown to include a wide range of material relating to the Rochdale area including Castleton, Littleborough, Milnrow, Wardle and Norden. Local Studies material for Heywood and Middleton is held at Heywood and Middleton Libraries. The collection includes newspaper archives, council records and paraphernalia relating to council events such as the Rochdale Carnival, early photographs of Wakes Week fairgrounds, Whit Walks as well as records of council meetings, menus from the Town Hall events and various other items of local history.
Spending time with the collection team, the community curator group looked through a wide range of material including; photographs of the Ukrainian Community in 1950s Rochdale, images of Kasmir Youth Project from the late 1970s, photographs of bonfire nights in the 1890s with fires built over 84 feet high on Blackstone Edge, catalogues of catering machinery from industrial bread mixers to metal sweet moulds and newspaper articles on school dinners and herbal remedies.
The rich selection of material brought back many memories with members of the group unexpectedly spotting themselves as children as well as their parents and family friends.