Family History & Local Heritage
Whether it’s family or local history research, or simply reminiscence and nostalgia, you’ll feel right at home with our collections.
Explore North East Lincolnshire Archives
Discover over 700 years of history from the area.
Digital Photography Collection
Explore a huge selection of local history photographs online, covering the whole of historic Lincolnshire from the earliest days of photography up to the modern day.
Browse the images by searching a range of albums from ‘Trawlers’, ‘Schools’, ‘Docks’, ‘Pubs and Hotels’ and ‘People’.
Our Collection
Start your research today
North East Lincolnshire Archives
We welcome visitors to browse original documents and photographs. Entry to the Search Room is free, but space is very limited and we strongly advise to contact us before making a visit.
This allows us to check what sources are available and reserve a place for you in the Search Room (there are currently only seven study desks and one microfiche/film reader).
If your enquiry is complicated, it’s better to write or email first, rather than calling. When emailing please include your name and postal address.
In the Search Room, you can consult topic guides, catalogues and indexes, and decide what you want to see. Before getting the document out for you, we will provide you with a request slip to complete and hand in.
North East Lincolnshire Archives
If you can’t get to the Search Room, we offer a limited postal and email service. General enquiries about catalogues and indexes can be answered and specific entries from the catalogues can be checked. If a detailed search of original documents is required, you will usually be advised to employ a record agent – see ‘Research Fees’ below.
We give free advice on original and printed sources held at North East Lincolnshire Archives and are happy to help you with your enquiry. Any detailed searches are chargeable.
If a detailed search of original documents is required, you will usually be advised to employ a record agent. A list of record agents (who are independent of North East Lincolnshire Archives and who charge fees) may be supplied on request.
North East Lincolnshire Archives
You may be allowed to use your own digital camera in the Search Room – please ask. Please complete a copyright declaration and ask permission before taking any photographs.
At present, there is no self-service copying and you must fill in a Copyright Declaration Form. We have these in the Search Room, or you can ask for one by post or by email. The Declaration Form must be returned by post or by hand because the law requires a hand-written signature.
You can order photocopies or photographs of many of the documents from our collections. However, it may not be possible to provide a copy of a document if the original item is too fragile or the copyright is owned by another individual or institution.
Grimsby Local History Library
All items are for consultation only within the department and cannot be borrowed. It’s possible to photocopy from most of them, subject to condition and copyright restrictions.
Group and school visits to the Archives Room (maximum group size 15 persons) and introductory talks by the staff can be arranged. There is no lecture room, but it may be possible to arrange talks elsewhere in the Town Hall.
