West Yorkshire Archive Service

About Us

The West Yorkshire Archive Service exists to preserve the past, serve the present and protect the future. We do this by collecting and looking after the unique documentary heritage of the region.

We have five district offices in Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds and Wakefield.

Each office holds a wide variety of collections from the twelfth century to the present day. We help members of the public use and enjoy these records. Our records can be used to find out more about your local history, family history and the history of specific buildings.

Our service has a highly skilled conservation team who look after and preserve our records. We also have an outreach team who run a wide range of events and activities throughout the year.

All our offices are free to visit but please note you will need to book an appointment in advance to view original documents in our search rooms.

At our Wakefield office we have an exhibition area open to the public. 

Online Catalogue

You can search our online catalogue which has over 970,000 entries and new material is being added to it regularly so please keep checking for new material! Find out more here.

Follow Us

West Yorkshire Archive Service (@wyorksarchives) / X [formerly Twitter]

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West Yorkshire Archive Service - YouTube

Catablogue | West Yorkshire Archive Service Blog

We are an Accredited Archive Service
The West Yorkshire Archive Service has been awarded Archive Service Accreditation by the UK Archive Service Accreditation Committee.

This is the UK quality standard for all areas of archive service delivery. Achieving accredited status demonstrates that West Yorkshire Archive Service has met clearly defined national standards relating to management and resourcing; the care of its unique collections and what the service offers to its entire range of users.