It’s an Aladdin’s Cave of Huddersfield’s history.
A trip behind the scenes at Huddersfield’s Heritage Quay archive revealed some of its best and quirky pieces that are still unknown by most people in the town.
Creepy dolls, fascinating documents, shellac vinyls, precious rugby paraphernalia and sci-fi articles about a future Huddersfield are just some of the engrossing items that can be unearthed from the vaults of the archive, which has been open to the public for one year.
A quarter of a million items sorted into 120 collections are kept in the archive centre on the third floor of the Central Services Building at the University of Huddersfield’s Queensgate campus.
It has been dubbed the “archive of interests” by assistant archivist Lindsay Ince, due to the items included there being donated from the public, academics and organisations.
They are stored in three rooms which are kept at a constant temperature of between 14° and 18°c to slow down chemical reactions that make objects degrade.
Special gases are also released into the rooms when empty, to stop artefacts getting wet if fire alarms go off.
“We have lots of items that relate to Huddersfield but also those which have regional, national and international significance”, said Lindsay.
“They represent academics’ research interests, as well as those of the general public and the historical public records from local employers and organisations such as the national Rugby Football League.
“While people can drop in to see our public exhibitions, they can also ask to see those kept in our storage facility”.
The first item she pulls out of a box, used to store artefacts when they are not being viewed, is a large faded navy hard back book.
Inside are more fabric samples rather than words; it is a 1860s catalogue of Indian fabric samples given by officials to northern industrialists who wanted to sell their wares to the country.
It was given as one of around eight volumes to Huddersfield Mechanics Institute and includes tartan and other patterns not out of place on today’s British high streets.
“It shows that the archive is not just for those interested in the written word, lots of our objects are things other than documents”, said Lindsay.
The eyes of thriller film-esque 1800s dolls seem to follow whoever unpacks them.
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“They belonged to the Huddersfield Amateur Operatic Society, now Huddersfield Musical Theatre Company.
“We’re not sure whether they were used as props or to test costume ideas before they were made for actors”.
One aisle is a haven for music lovers, where 20,000 shellac vinyls are kept.
“We look after the British Music Collection from London, which are physical recordings of 20th century contemporary music.
“There’s Benjamin Britten, Elgar and others. We also have 40,000 scores, some of which are arranged to look like solar systems and other experimental styles.
“With Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival here at the University, they are in the perfect place and we will be hosting tours and a oral history recording session, when festival goers can tell us about their memories of the event and previous ones”.
Taking up a whole aisle and a half is the official national Rugby Football League collection, presented after the closure of the Rugby League Heritage Centre in the George Hotel.
Dave Smith, participation and engagement officer, said: “It documents the struggle the league had to go through to forge its way.
“We have flags, shirts, player testimonials, trophies and more from clubs, players and fans.
“We’ve got a trunk and contents that belonged to Great Britain player Dai Jenkins, who went on the side’s most successful tour to Australia and New Zealand in 1946.
“He brought back programmes, photos and a boomerang signed by clubs”.
One of the largest collections in the archive is based on the university.
An old art exam in a box and a large portrait of 1887 to 1922 lecturer Anton Ludwig are just two pieces that may jog the memories of former students.
“Ludwig was from Alsace and it seems he was quite a character.
“Students found out that the best way to distract him from teaching was to say he was German, which would set him off every time on an animated ramble about how it wasn’t true”.
An entertaining article imagining life in 1999 is included in one of the 1925 editions of the old student magazine, The Mock Turtle.
In the “Total Eclipse of 1999”, the writer imagines Huddersfield and England. The Examiner is the Huddersfield Oral Examiner, which blares out news across the town, while a Government ministry can disperse clouds.
Next year, the former Hopkinson Valves engineers and Holset Engineering Co Ltd will become the focus of a major research project and exhibition.
“We’ve got photos and items which we don’t yet know a lot about so we will be inviting in past employees to reminisce and help us out”.
Free public behind the scenes tours take place on the first Wednesday of the month at 1pm and on the third Saturday at 11am.
The search room is open from 9.30am to 5pm on Mondays and Tuesdays, on the first Tuesday from 1pm to 7.30pm and on the third Saturday from 9.30am to 1pm each month.
Everyone can visit the centre and exhibitions seven days a week, from 8am to 8pm Monday to Friday, Saturdays from 9am to 5pm and Sundays from 10am to 4pm.
