Project Description
Lancashire Archives, in Bow Lane, Preston, looks after the unique records of Whittingham, owned by the NHS. The books and papers are kept in secure, climate-controlled strongrooms, and made available for public use in the searchroom. The thousands of documents in the Whittingham archive occupy nearly 80 shelves in the strongrooms and cover the time from the opening of the asylum in 1873 to its closure in 1995.
The stories of the building and estate, the organisation and the community – both patients and staff – are told through a huge variety of documents and images. These include minute books and formal management records; reports; financial records and details of the farm; staff registers and wage books; patient reception orders, registers and case books.
Whittingham Lives offered a wonderful opportunity to ensure the long-term physical preservation of the archive collection, through repair and re-packaging, so that it will be available to future generations. It also aimed to make more people aware of this rich resource and to encourage them to explore it.
The archive is available for anyone to explore. Because of the sensitive and personal nature of some of the records, not everything is open to public inspection. A list of all the Whittingham archives records can be seen on Lancashire Archives’ online catalogue LANCAT here. Please visit www.lancashire.gov.uk/archives for current contact and access information.