Sheffield Archives pictures paint thousands of words of city’s history

Pictures paint a thousand words and Sheffield City Archives is open again with even more fascinating images available of the city’s past.
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The reopening of Sheffield City Archives last week coincides with the completion of digitising nearly 100,000 historical photos, letters, postcards, posters and documents to Picture Sheffield.

The online resource provides a vast collection of preserved records and printed material relating to Sheffield and the surrounding area from the 12th century to now.

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Pete Evans, heritage services manager at the archives, said: “It’s been a painstaking and lengthy task to document and scan thousands of records to ensure that the materials will be available for many more years.

Cafe at Olympia roller skating rink, Bramall Lane, c.1912Cafe at Olympia roller skating rink, Bramall Lane, c.1912
Cafe at Olympia roller skating rink, Bramall Lane, c.1912

"We have extensive collections of books, pamphlets, photographs, church registers, newspapers, census records, minutes, diaries, films, maps, deeds, records from schools, hospitals, businesses and charities, family estates as well as personal papers.”

The Archives and Local Studies team receives regular thanks from customers who they have helped, by doing research for them to uncover unknown facts or to piece information together to help customers complete gaps in their half-remembered stories.

One of the latest is this from an 80-year-old woman’s grandson: “I cannot thank you enough for helping me with this. My Grandma has for the last 80 years only had one photo of her dad and now has another.

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"I showed her the photo over lunch and she had a few tears of joy. So thanks once again; you have made an old lady and her grandson very happy :)”

Coun Mary Lea, Sheffield cabinet member for culture, sports and leisure, said: “It’s a resource that brings so much happiness to people, it answers questions, it sparks interest and all the time we’re building on the collection to make sure we continue to capture history.”

Income received from picture sales and donations is used to cover the cost of managing and developing the non-profit-making service at picturesheffield.com.

A small team of enthusiastic volunteers add over 100 extra images every month.

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If anyone has photographs that they would like to have added to Picture Sheffield, call 0114 203 9395 or email [email protected]​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a digital subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Nancy Fielder, editor.

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