First archive centre to combine university and local authority records
New Hull History Centre

The Hull History Centre opened to the public yesterday, January 25th. It is the result of a joint project between the University of Hull and Hull City Council to combine their archives into one purpose-built centre. The project was mostly funded by a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Bringing together material held by Hull City Archives, Hull Local Studies Library and Hull University Archives, the centre is the first in the country to combine university and local authority archives.

The centre notably holds the city’s 13th-century Royal Charter, records relating to the port and docks of Hull, to local and national politics and pressure groups such as Liberty, as well as family and local history archives and over 100,000 photographs, illustrations, maps and newspapers. Other highlights of the collection include the hand-written poems of Philip Larkin (1922-1985), who was the librarian of the University of Hull for thirty years, letters to his parents, his duffle-coat and glasses, as well as documents relating to the pioneering aviator Amy Johnson (1903-1941), who was born in Kingston upon Hull, and to the anti-slavery campaigner William Wilberforce (1759-1833), who was also a native of Kingston upon Hull.

© History Today 2010