Explore York Archive

03/10/2025

You can find beauty and art in the most functional of records in archive collections. That is what our recent student placement group from the University of York found when working with our collections.

They were inspired by a draft parochial ledger that is part of our Poor Law Union and Workhouse records. Parochial ledgers are summary accounts of receipts and expenditure for individual parishes within the York Poor Law Union, so not necessarily the most eye-catching of entries on our catalogue. However, as the group found, these documents can have beautiful and vibrant marbling adorning them, they became interested in the history and process of marbling.

They produced two amazing videos on paper marbling, the first of which covers a brief history of paper marbling.

We will be sharing the second video next week👀

A group of students from the University of York undertook a placement to here in the archives at Explore York Libraries and Archives. The group were tasked w...

02/10/2025

175 years of public libraries celebrated with this wonderful poem read by our superb team across all of our Explore sites 📚❤️

30/09/2025

Today is National Sporting Heritage day! 🚴

To celebrate we are sharing a few photographs from our collection of the Clifton Cycling Club. The club was founded in 1895 at the Old Grey Mare on Clifton Green and are still going strong today.

We hold a variety of sport collections here at Explore York Archives including :

⚽Records of York City Football Club

🏏York Charity Cricket Cups

👟Railways Athletics Association

And many more!

You can find these by searching on our archives catalogue (link in the comments).

29/09/2025

New blog alert!

One of our wonderful placement students from York St John University , Kate Hastings, looks at some of the postcards in our collections and the power of the stories that they tell.

https://citymakinghistory.org/2025/09/29/souvenir-snaps-and-personal-stories-the-power-of-a-postcard/

This blogpost was written by Kate Hastings, one of our wonderful placement students from York St John University. Kate was part of a group working with some of our photographic collections here at …

26/09/2025

York Unlocked begins tomorrow!

Visit us and take part in our self-guided tour and learn about the history of our amazing library and archive building. You will find out about its architectural quirks, explore rooms not often open to the public, and see how the building has changed.

📆Saturday 27th 9am-5:00pm
📆Sunday 28th 11am-4pm.

We will also be selling historic and geological OS Maps covering parts of Yorkshire and further afield. 🗺️🌍

You can also visit our shop where we have even more maps, as well as local history books available to buy. 📖

24/09/2025

Happy Birthday to our team at Clifton Library. It has been one year already!🎂

It's our first birthday! We opened on the 23rd September 2024 and in our first year you have borrowed 56365 books from us.
If you have not visited us yet, pop in to browse our book shelves - you never know what you might find.

23/09/2025

Gatehouse for the prison prior to its demolition in 1935.

In 1900 the male prison was made available to the War office for use as a military prison, it closed in 1929 and ceased to be a prison in 1932.

The sign on the right-hand tower indicates that materials from the demolition can be purchased.

22/09/2025

There is still time to sign up and get involved with this amazing project inspired by our collections about Clifton to create an audio production.

Just 2 weeks to go until History Misbehaves kicks off – and there’s still time to join us!

If you’ve ever wanted to explore Clifton’s history in a fun, imaginative way, this is your chance. We’re creating an original audio drama with help from local residents – no experience needed.

📅 Starts: Monday 6th October, 5.30–7.00pm
📍 Clifton Explore Library
🎙️ Led by Digital Drama’s Kate Valentine & playwright Paul Birch from Riding Lights Theatre Company

Whether you love storytelling, acting, writing or just want to try something new – we’d love to have you!

📧 Book your free place: arts@exploreyork.org.uk
📞 Or call: 01904 552662
👋 Or pop into Clifton Explore Library

21/09/2025

One week until York Unlocked kicks off!

Come along and take part in our self-guided tour and learn about the history of our amazing library and archive building. You will find out about its architectural quirks, explore rooms not often open to the public, and see how the building has changed.

📆Saturday 27th 9am-5:00pm
📆Sunday 28th 11am-4pm.

We will also be selling some historic and geological OS Maps covering parts of Yorkshire and further afield.

You can also pick up a copy of the York Unlocked programme in our libraries now!

19/09/2025

Come along and see some of the amazing artworks on display in our cafe at York Explore Library and Archive .🎨

Created as part of a project with dandelion arts and inspired in part by our Knowles Collection. The amazing participants were even able to bring some new life to some our old archive boxes.

18/09/2025

A busy day in the reading room as work is underway to repackage our collection of Chamberlains' rolls as part of our Setting the Record Straight project.

The project aims to improve access to our collections, enhance information about our collections and conduct preventative conservation.

17/09/2025

📢Our of 2024-25 is now available to read online.

🍾We're celebrating our achievements over the last year and thanking everyone who made it possible. 👏

🎉 Marking our 10th anniversary as an independent mutual.

And - most importantly - we're looking forward and asking you to help us shape what happens next.

- let's keep the story going.

⤵️Read our Annual Review - Link in the comments below.