The fascinating political history of Huddersfield is brought to life at Heritage Quay by the extensive range of collections that document the area’s
20th and 21st century political story.

The overarching influence of the labour movement and the Labour Party is keenly reflected through the collections. From the emergence and
development of the Party’s grass roots, to the upper echelons of Westminster, there are many stories to be told within the Huddersfield Labour
Party Archive, Colne Valley Labour Party Archive and the Denby Dale Labour Party Archive. The Labour Party archives are supported by a
vast collection of Independent Labour Party Pamphlets. These cover a wide range of subjects relating to labour politics and history.

These are complemented by the George Henry Wood Collection, comprising of around 50,000 pamphlets spanning roughly 1870-1930. It was
the personal library of George Henry Wood, a statistician and socialist who spent much of his career striving to improve the living and working
conditions of the lower classes.

We also look after collections relating to political figures and members of parliament such as John Henry Whitley, Speaker of the House of
Commons from 1921-1928, Baroness Betty Lockwood, Mike Clapham MP, Kenneth Lomas MP and more. We also hold the personal papers of
Arthur Gardiner, a notable conscientious objector during the First World War and later Mayor of Huddersfield.

The Chickens’ Lib Archive is a substantial collection of letters and campaigning material gathered over fifty years (1970 – 2010) and represents
the active years of a small voluntary pressure group co-founded by Clare Druce and her mother Violet Spalding. The letters, fact sheets, leaflets,
posters, videos, and press cuttings highlight the gradual development in society towards a recognition that so-called ‘food animals’ are sentient
beings.

Our politics collections also contain the libraries of the Left Book Club and Bow Group Publications, as well as some oral histories.

Links to our politics collections are listed below in alphabetical order: