Archival acquisitions in 2016

During the course of 2016, the department received 12 such collections. These ranged from just one item, the first edition of a staff newsletter, The L&M World, published in 1930 by the Linotype and Machinery Company (Accession 2016-2023), through to a collection of journals and documents (Accession 2016-2011) that takes up one linear metre of shelving and once belonged to an engineer who worked for L Gardner & Sons Ltd, Patricroft. The dates of the various collections range from 1875 through to as recently as 2016.

Amongst the collections donated is a minute book from the Manchester Steam Users’ Association, dated October 1875 to March 1882 (accession 2016-2025). The book also contains loose items including photocopies of obituaries of boiler engineers connected with the Association, and manuscript notes on the history of the Association compiled by the donor.

We also collected notebooks used by Thomas Stanley Pearson when he was a student at Manchester Municipal College of Technology, from 1908 to 1909 and then 1922 to 1926 (accession 2016-2009). These contain notes relating to textile industry studies, including comparative yarn prices, and notes and fabric samples relating to the textile market in Mumbai and Kolkatta in 1929. This notebook also refers to one of the largest manufacturers in India, David Sassoon & Co of Mumbai.

Accession 2016-2026 is a file of documents relating to Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd. The company was part of a team that researched the development of proximity fuses, an important development in the area of precision bombing during the war. Salford Electrical Instruments Ltd had helped develop the electronic components, namely the thermionic valve, which was a key component in the fuse. The documents relate to the Royal Commission on Awards to Inventors, which was formed in order to award companies and individuals for their work, which during peacetime would probably have been patented and therefore provided an income from their research and development work. However, because of the nature of some of the inventions this was not possible during wartime.

For more information about our collections, visit Collections Online, which provides you with more information about what we have here and how you can arrange a visit.

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