We exist to preserve the county's heritage of historical documents and to help members of the public make use of them. The Service is funded by the five Metropolitan District Councils in West Yorkshire, and forms part of West Yorkshire Joint Services.

The Service has offices in Bradford, Calderdale (in Halifax), Kirklees (in Huddersfield), Leeds and Wakefield. Anyone interested in the history of Yorkshire, who would like to discover what records have survived, is welcome to visit any of the above five offices.

Photographs in West Yorkshire Archive Service collections

There are many thousands of photographs amongst the West Yorkshire Archive Service collections. There are photographs taken to document the activities of local councils - for slum clearance programmes, to illustrate public health hazards, or traffic problems. There are photographs of new road schemes, housing and public buildings under construction. Other images were taken simply to promote local government activities, publicity and marketing.

Local businesses proudly recorded their manufacturing output and their workforce. Local clubs and societies took photographs of special outings and events. Local people collected photograph albums of special family occasions, holidays and favourite local beauty spots.

All of these types of photographs are represented amongst the West Yorkshire Archive Service collections. We aim to highlight some of our photographic collection here and give you a glimpse into West Yorkshire's past.

Can you help us?

We hope that you will be able to help us to identify and date unknown and undated scenes, people and places by tagging and commenting on our photostream.

What else can you do with our images?

You can use our images for research and private study purposes.

We are also happy for you to use our photos on your blog or website - all we ask is that you acknowledge "West Yorkshire Archive Service" (and preferably cite the reference number that is listed in the image description) and link back to our photostream. This ensures visitors can get back to the original source. We'd love to see any West Yorkshire Archive Service items you feature on your blog so make sure you drop us an email with a link to your post.

If you wish to reproduce our images for other purposes please contact us.

For more information on WYAS

West Yorkshire Archive Service

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