Containing items created by/related to both Stephenson's, together with some family items. Also contains business records for the Stephenson's companies. As both father and son were major figures in early railway engineering, collections reflect this. Personal letters and items for both cross over with their professional activities, business records indicate how their companies developed and contain material on specific projects. Also included, is material on George Stephenson's safety lamp. Of significance is material relating to specific railway companies who the Stephenson's undertook work for, including Canterbury and Whitstable Railway, Liverpool and Manchester Railway and Manchester and Leeds Railway. Some items relate to engineers the Stephenson's employed/worked with such as, Joseph Locke, Michael Longridge, Thomas Longridge Gooch and Henry Swinburne. Only one item relates to George Robert Stephenson.
The collections contain both papers and items and include:
- Legal papers, business and personal including papers and drawings related to patents
- Personal effects of George Stephenson
- Financial papers
- Letters, business and personal
- Portraits
- Drawings and photographs
- Employment papers, for Stephenson company employees
- Company minutes
A selection of items have been digitised, including many of the letters and the Safety Lamp material and are available to all on our Virtual Archive .