Archive Service

West Yorkshire Archive Service (WYAS) are hosting a variety of events to celebrate Archive Awareness Month. This year’s theme of Taking your Place in History has allowed us to host a wide variety of exciting events.
Please click here for more information.

The West Yorkshire Archive Service exists to preserve the county's heritage of historical documents and to help members of the public make use of them. The Service is funded by the five Metropolitan District Councils in West Yorkshire, and forms part of West Yorkshire Joint Services.

The Service has its headquarters in Wakefield, and offices in Bradford, Calderdale (Halifax), Kirklees (Huddersfield), and Leeds. The Service also gives professional advice and support to the Yorkshire Archaeological Society, also in Leeds.

The Service collects and preserves historical records of all kinds dating from the twelfth century to the present day. More information about the kinds of archives we keep can be found in the sections on family history and local history, or you can explore our online catalogue. Please contact us if you would like further help and advice on available documents. We are always interested to hear from people who have records they would like to deposit with us.

Anyone interested in the history of Yorkshire, who would like to discover what records have survived, is welcome to visit any of the offices of the West Yorkshire Archive Service.

Christmas and New Year Opening Times
All West Yorkshire Archive Service offices will be open on Monday 29th and Tuesday 30th December 2008 until 5pm.

All West Yorkshire Archive Service offices will be closed from
24th to 27th December 2008 and from 31st December to 3rd January 2009 inclusive.

Collections Weeks
Closure 2nd to 6th March 2009.

All five offices of the West Yorkshire Archive Service will be closed for collections work on: Monday 2nd to Friday 6th March 2009.

During this time staff will be working on improving access to the local authority collections in our care.

Staff will continue to respond to urgent written enquiries and telephone messages during this period.

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