Collections

The Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Archive Service holds an astonishing range of records relating to the history of the county of Staffordshire and the city of Stoke on Trent, and their people. Our 6,500 collections, cover over one thousand years of our collective history, and enable research into a multitude of subjects. Discover more about our key archive collections.

The county museum collection contains over 28,000 social history objects, 40,000 photographs and 1,800 items of fine and decorative art, which covers 200 years of Staffordshire history.

The William Salt Library collection consists of printed books, pamphlets, manuscripts, drawings, watercolours, and transcripts built up by William Salt (1808-1863), a London banker during his lifetime. The Library continues to collect and preserve printed books, printed ephemera, pamphlets and illustrative material relating to Staffordshire for present and future generations. The Library’s collections represent an outstanding resource for the study of local and family history in Staffordshire.