The Teesside Archives contain many documents from the area’s councils and industrial past. With the archives set to maneuver to a replacement home, what is the point of them and what secrets do they hold?
Sydney Harbour Bridge may be a global landmark, an icon of Australia and a must-see for tourists since its construction in 1932.
But for those wanting a more detailed check out the bridge, the solution to their architectural prayers are often found 10,500 miles away during a crumbling former Post Office in Middlesbrough.
The Teesside Archives, which have been based in Exchange House since the 1980s, have quite 700 plans for the bridge as a part of its collection of records from the area’s industrial firms.
One of them – Dorman Long – built Sydney’s famous postcard subject.
“Most people just want to ascertain the drawing of the span of it,” Ruth Hobbins says amusingly , “but if they need to travel into minute detail we do have that here also .
“There are some very technical drawings of details that might only really be of interest to engineers.”
The archives were formed in 1974 when four councils – Middlesbrough, Stockton, Hartlepool and Redcar and Cleveland – merged their history records.
It costs £241,800 a year to work , which is shared between the authorities.
Committee proceedings, school records, planning applications, all are often found within the filing cabinets and store rooms of Exchange House.
“You won’t realise the importance of them or their legal evidential value for years to return .
“People don’t create things with the intention of keeping them forever but tons of them continue to possess long run significance and interest.”
She cites Magna Carta as an example, a document drawn for a selected purpose at the time but which has gone to be “very special and precious”.
Coroner proceedings, adoption files, church and hospital records are within the archives also because the private records of companies and families that are donated.
One of the archives’ hottest vaults is the British Steel Collection, which catalogues the increase and fall of the nation’s industry .
The archives of quite 30 iron and steel companies are held, including those of Cleveland Bridge and Dorman Long, firms liable for bridges and engineering projects round the world.
The oldest document within the archive may be a small parchment from 1270 detailing a dispute between people at Guisborough Priory.
“The older things tend to be land holdings and title deeds, although we don’t have that much that’s that old,” Ruth says.
“Most of our archive starts within the technological revolution era.”
“Most of the people that use our archives are students and historians, people that have gotten a lively or working interest within the documents,” Ruth said.
“We also get people coming who do work on their house and wish for the first planning application for it, people that only hear folks once they need us.”
A lot more thought and care has got to enter into taking care of the documents than simply stuffing them in filing cabinets.
“Fire may be a big risk but actually this building is pretty solid and therefore the archives are split across several floors in many rooms,” Ruth said, adding: “The chances of it all being lost are quite small.
“The bigger risk would be water damage. We get smaller things that are available with bits of water damage. we’ve a really honest conservationists and most of the time we will fix it.
“There is not any food or drink allowed within the vicinity of the archive, especially food as that would attract insects. tons of our older documents are made up of animal skins and therefore the glues are from animal products which insects would like to feast on.
“An infestation would be a significant problem. Sometimes we get items that may have an insect on them, they need to be put within the freezer to kill them off.”
The increase in digital documentation is additionally causing the archives to adapt to new issues.
“The digital age does present a replacement problem because I even have to believe how I store these documents electronically,” Ruth said.
“We do use portable hard drives but they’re vulnerable, if I dropped one it could lose a huge amount of knowledge .
“We got to confirm the digitally stored material is secure so can’t be altered but is additionally accessible to people. These are a number of the items we’ve to believe , in the future we’ll get more digital documents than physical.”
After nearly 40 years in Exchange House, the archives are set to maneuver .
Middlesbrough Council says the present building “fundamentally” fails to satisfy national standards and wishes work worth £2m to bring it up to scratch, consistent with the Local Democracy Reporting Service.
“The council aren’t pushing the archives away and wanting to obviate them but it’ll be a touch harder for our customers,” Ruth says.
“People will still be ready to visit but they’re going to just need to give us a touch more notice and tell us what they need to ascertain so we will order it from storage.
“What makes our archive special, also because of the history it holds, is the team of volunteers who keep it going.
“Without them we might not be where we are, and that we still want people to return and use us.”
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