Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution records

Scope and Content

Comprises a set of minute books of the governing body and its committees (1843-1884), programme books (1859-1878), annual reports (1845-1886), buildings records (1859-1903), membership records (1844-1889), subscriptions (1845-1885), student records (1863-1882), teachers (1856-1881), Huddersfield School of Art Register (1872-1884), financial records (1845-1886), the accounts of the Penny Savings Bank (started in Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution and the forerunner of the Post Office Savings Bank), correspondence (1855-1884), press cuttings, portraits. An almost complete archive, it is a vital source of information about the working-class people of Huddersfield and the local industrialists who governed the Mechanics' Institution.

Administrative / Biographical History

The Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution was formed in 1843 from the Young Men's Mental Improvement Society, which had been formed in 1841 by five employees of Frederick Schwann. In 1884 it amalgamated with the Huddersfield Female Educational Institute to become the Huddersfield Technical School and Mechanics' Institute.

Access Information

Available to all researchers, by appointment

Note

In English

Other Finding Aids

Handlist of the Huddersfield Mechanics' Institution records. A detailed listing of the contents is also available on the Huddersfield University Archives web site http://www.hud.ac.uk/tlc/archives/hmi/index.htm