Local Archive Collection

The Local Collections contain a wide variety of material. A large number of documents relate to the metallurgical industries in the area, including the Whiterock Copper Works, the Morfa Tinplate Co., and John Player and Sons of Clydach Tinplate Works.

Another sizeable deposit relates to the Mumbles Railway and contains minutes, financial records, parliamentary and legal papers from 1804 - 1959.

Records of two religious denominations are held, the Methodist records for the Swansea and Gower circuit (excluding the registers which are held by West Glamorgan County Archive Service) and Roman Catholic records from St. David's Priory, Swansea.

Family records include those of the Benson, Dillwyn and Graham Vivian families.

* The archive collections of the Royal Institution of South Wales that were formerly held here have been relocated to West Glamorgan Archive Service. These include the George Grant Francis and Mackworth collections.

A full description of the collections is given in the the Guide to Local Archive Collections available at the Library & Information Centre. 

Hours of opening (by appointment only)
Monday - Friday	9.15am - 1pm; 2pm - 5pm
Tuesday evening*(term-time only)	6pm - 9.30pm
Access to the Archives is by appointment only; tel 01792 295021, or email archives@swan.ac.uk. * Appointments for Tuesday evenings must be made by noon on the previous Friday. Please note that the required documents must be specified in advance.

 

South Wales Coalfield Collection

The South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC) was established in 1969 as an attempt to preserve the documentary records of the mining community of South Wales. The majority of records relate to the South Wales Miners' Federation, later the NUM (South Wales Area) and its individual lodges. The Archive also contains records from miners' institutes, co-operative societies and individuals connected with the mining community. There are also some colliery records and documents relating to political parties.

An online catalogue to part of the SWCC has now been compiled with the help of grants from HEFCW (as part of the Follett initiative) and the British Library. The catalogue covers the many media in the collection; audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, banners and those manuscripts deposited between 1983-1993. Manuscripts deposited before that date are described in the two Guides to the South Wales Coalfield Archive available in the Library & Information Centre.

The audiovisual material and banners are held at the South Wales Miners' Library where there is also an extensive collection of printed material relating to the Coalfield; pamphlets, newspaper cuttings and books on the history and practice of coal mining.

University Archives

The LIS Archives hold Council, Senate and Faculty minutes from 1920 onwards and some correspondence for the period 1920-1959.

Useful websites

Archives Council Wales Archives Hub
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
GENUKI
Gathering the Jewels - the All Wales Digitisation Project

A list of sites relating to coalmining in South Wales may be found on the Mine of Information project website.

Latest Archives News

Swansea University Archives has successfully gained funding from the National Manuscripts’ Conservation Trust and CyMAL: Museums Archives and Libraries Wales to conserve the registers of St David’s Priory, Swansea.

Ten registers of baptisms, marriages and burials from the Roman Catholic community of St David’s Priory, dating from 1839 to 1956, will be conserved. The registers are of great importance to family historians and to scholars with an interest in the development of the Roman Catholic church in nineteenth-century Britain. The availability of the registers from this period make it a very significant collection as St David’s was one of the first new catholic ‘missions’ to be established in South Wales since the Reformation. They are particularly useful for the history of Irish migration, settlement and integration in Britain in the nineteenth century.

The conservation will be carried out at the Leather Conservation Centre in Northampton University by specialists in conservation binding. It will involve specialised leather treatments as well as repairs to the structure of the bindings.

The work is scheduled to be carried out between August 2008 and March 2009. This means that the registers will not be available during this period. Researchers are advised to contact the Archives to check on the current position.

Enquiries

For further information please contact the Archivist, Elisabeth Bennett, at: Library and Information Services
University of Wales Swansea
Singleton Park
Swansea SA2 8PP

Tel 01792 295021; email e.a.bennett@swan.ac.uk