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Archives online

We seek to digitise as much of our collection as possible to simplify access, and help preserve the original. As more items become available we'll share them here.

Record your COVID-19 Experiences

Help us to inform future generations of what life was like during the COVID-19 pandemic in the East Riding.
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What Was Here app

Discover the East Riding like never before with the What Was Here app. View old photos of places you visit and buy prints of selected images for the perfect souvenir. Coming soon: Historic maps!

Your window on the past

Hold up your smartphone and see what your town looked like over the years with just a tap.

Explore from home

Explore content on the app from the comfort of your own home or go online with your computer on the What Was Here website.

Download on the App Store
Get it on Google Play
Go to WhatWasHere.org

Online Exhibitions

WW1 Lives
The First World War Lives project tells the previously untold stories of East Riding service personnel involved in the First World War.
View WW1 Lives
Hornsea Pottery
A look into the history of Hornsea Pottery, a local company of international acclaim. Produced in association with Hornsea Museum.
View Hornsea Pottery

Archive Maps

We hold a collection of historic Ordnance Survey maps for between 1855 and 1929. These can be viewed online by visiting the archive maps viewer page.

Visit Archives Maps

Newspaper archives online

View millions of pages of historic newspapers, dating back to 1700, online with the British Newspaper Archive. You can access the online archive for free by using the computers in the East Riding Archives research room or at East Riding Libraries. The archive is searchable, making it an invaluable tool for historians researching names and places. Newspapers capture the fascinating history of the town, taking you through momentous occasions, social deprivation and authority meetings over the years. The archives also features hundreds of letters from soldiers in varying war zones.

East Riding Archives also keep a limited collection of physical local newspapers and microfilm copies for the East Riding. Bridlington and Goole Local Studies Libraries hold newspapers for their areas viewable on microfilm by appointment. Hull History Centre holds Hull newspapers.

Visit British Newspaper Archive

FindMyPast

Some East Riding Archives parish registers can be found on the Find My Past website. While you normally would have to pay a subscription for using FindMyPast, it is free to access on the computers in the research room at the Treasure House, Beverley, or at East Riding Libraries.

Find my Past is no longer available to use from home. We apologies for any inconvenience this may cause. Ancestry will still be available however, using your East Riding libraries membership.

Visit FindMyPast

Ancestry

Get free access to Ancestry.com on the computers in the research room at the Treasure House, Beverley, or at East Riding Libraries.

COVID-19 lockdown update. East Riding Libraries members can now access the free Libraries subscription from home by following this link library.eastriding.gov.uk/web/arena/ancestry

Visit Ancestry
Flickr

View our Flickr collection

Follow our East Riding Archives Flickr account to view hundreds of images from our collections online:

East Riding Archives on Flickr
Copyright of Flickr images

Please note: East Riding Archives participates in The Commons on Flickr to further its educational mission and increase public access to its collections of images.

East Riding Archives images that are part of The Commons on Flickr are marked 'no known copyright restrictions', indicating that we are unaware of any current copyright restrictions on these images, either because copyright has expired, no evidence has been found that copyright restrictions apply, or we own the copyright and have chosen not exercise that control.

The images that we upload to our Flickr photostream are available for non-commercial research, private study, or educational purposes. Please credit 'East Riding Archives' when you use these images, including the 'archive ref' from the image title. If you would like to use these images for any other purpose, or to obtain high quality copies, please contact us.

Image: Fred Elwell painting Admiral Duncan Inn and Beverley Minster 1939 (archive ref PH-4-8)

Remembering the Riding in video

Watch a fantastic selection of our video collections on the East Riding of Yorkshire Council Youtube Channel.

View the Archives Playlist

Trawling Through Time

Discover the history of Beverley’s shipbuilding past with our online blog, Trawling Through Time. Funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the blog tells the story of Beverley shipbuilders Cook, Welton & Gemmell between 1905 and 1962 and the archive collection we preserve. Find out about the project, our volunteers and activities we held.

Visit blog
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