Centre marks ‘historic’ milestone

25th Jan 2012

The pioneering Hull History Centre is celebrating its second anniversary this month.

Since opening its doors on 25 January 2010, the centre has attracted more than 75,000 visitors and gained national recognition for its work.

The project has brought nationally-important archives and expert staff of the University of Hull and Hull City Council together under the same roof- and was one of the first projects of its kind in the country. Funded by a grant of £7.7m from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the centre gives the public better access than ever to a fascinating range of material.

Housing treasures such as the original charter granted to the city of Hull in 1299 and the notebooks used by Philip Larkin to compose his poems, the History Centre is also home to a vast amount of material for family history research.

Councillor Terry Geraghty, Hull City Council Portfolio Holder for Leisure and Culture: “In just two years the History Centre has become a popular and much valued facility for the city of Hull. It is well regarded nationally in the heritage sector.

“I should like to thank the staff of both the city council and our partners the University for their hard work and commitment to making the centre such a success.”

University Director of Library and Learning Innovation, Dr Richard Heseltine, said: “Visitor numbers clearly show that the high level of enthusiasm for the History Centre that was evident in the first year can be sustained in the long term. 

“The University is immensely proud to be working in partnership with the city council on a service that brings benefit not only to the people of Hull, but also to researchers from around the world, and all in an award-winning building that has brought great prestige to the city.  The success of the project is a great credit to all who work there.”

As part of its commitment to being an integral part of the community, Hull History Centre  runs public events and exhibitions, school outreach projects and student internships.

The purpose-built facility is also home to the most extensive range of WW2 records in the country, the archives of notable figures from aviator Amy Johnson to abolitionist William Wilberforce, as well as significant maritime and local history collections.

In the last two years more than 240 new deposits have been received by the centre, from individual items to large collections occupying many shelves. These include a record of the memories of survivors of the Second World War, which give a fascinating insight into how bombing raids affected young children in Hull, and a collection of photographs of a female comedy duo who were the French and Saunders of their day.

In addition, the centre is at the cutting edge of archive stewardship, with staff co-authoring a research white paper on how to effectively handle archives which exist only in digital form, from digital photographs to email messages, with attachments.  They are building capability to handle old floppy disks and entire hard drives.

As well as celebrating higher than expected visitor numbers through its doors, Hull History Centre has attracted more than 135,000 visitors to its website. It has also gained prestigious recognition, with awards from organisations including the National Archives and the Civic Trust.