Huddersfield’s fascinating political history is brought to life in 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 on this narrative is keenly reflected through the collections. From the emergence and development of the Party’s grass roots (Huddersfield Labour Party Archive, Colne Valley Labour Party Archive and the Denby Dale Labour Party Archive) to the upper echelons of Westminster (J H Whitley, MP and Speaker of the House of Commons and JPW Mallalieu, MP Archives; Robert Blatchford Collections) and New Labour politics (Mick Clapham, MP Archive).


These collections reveal the local realities of the national party political system, and how this system has been informed and influenced by the unique character of Huddersfield’s political landscape. The library of famous statistician G.H. Wood covers economic and social history, education, health, housing and women’s history during the late 19th and early 20th century, and complement more contemporary left-wing publications including the Left Book Club and modern periodicals.


Catalogued Collections
Library of Arthur Gardiner – http://heritagequay.org/archives/AG/
Library of Alistair Wilson – http://heritagequay.org/archives/AWI/
Robert Blatchford Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/BLA/
Colne Valley Labour Party Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/CVL/
Denby Dale Labour Party Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/DDL
George Henry Wood Collection – http://heritagequay.org/archives/GHW/
Garth Pratt Co-operative Society Library – http://heritagequay.org/archives/GPC/
J H Whitley Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/JHW/
Sir Joseph Percival William Mallalieu, MP Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/JPM/
Noreen Logan Archive (Relating to Huddersfield Labour Party) – http://heritagequay.org/archives/NL/
You can browse through and download a hard copy version of these catalogues on our ISSUU profile here: https://issuu.com/heritagequay/docs/heritage_quay_politics_collections_
Uncatalogued Collections
Bow Group Publications Library – http://heritagequay.org/archives/?keyword=bow+group
Huddersfield Labour Party Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/HLP/
Independent Labour Party Pamphlets – http://heritagequay.org/archives/ILP/
Left Book Club Publications Library – http://heritagequay.org/archives/?keyword=left+book+club
Mick Clapham, MP Archive – http://heritagequay.org/archives/?keyword=Clapham%2C+Mick
Pursue your own research using the collections
Find out about our events exploring the collections- many free