About the project

It was started by Calderdale Council to raise the historic profile of the area. This was possible due to an award of £106,000 from the New Opportunities Fund.

There were two main objectives:

• preservation of rare and fragile material;
• and improved public access to resources.

A key part was to make a searchable and visual archive. This was to feature material about the textile industry that grew, prospered and then declined in the area. It reflects on the centrality of the textile industry to the area's local history. The visual archive also looks at the wider social historical context.

The original project employed three local history consultants. They found a lot of material from collections held by Calderdale Libraries and local partner organisations. This was digitised and added to the online collection.

Launched 10th January 2003, it has been very popular. It was re-launched with a new design, updated text and enhanced features in 2009.