Local History Library

Our popular library is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.

It holds a huge collection of photographs, documents and newspapers relating to Salford’s past. It is increasingly popular for family history research, delving into the history of the houses, school projects and community heritage in Salford.

Looking for maps and photographs of old Salford? Researching your family tree? Our local history library will have something for you!

The library’s extensive collection includes family history sources (from 1841), maps (from 1848), newspapers (from 1858), more than 70,000 photographs and a wide range of other useful material, including:

• Online access, including access to family history resources
• Street directories for Manchester and Salford
• Census returns for Salford
• Maps and plans of areas of the city
• Over 70,000 historical photographs of the city and surrounding areas

Opening Hours

Visitors need to pre-book a visit to our Local History Library. This is to ensure the library has resources available for your visit (for example, microfilm readers, computers, etc.).

Alternatively, if you would like to drop-in without booking for self-led research, you are free to do so on Tuesdays and Wednesdays or at one of our Saturday drop-in days (see below for future dates).

Contact us

If you have any enquiries, please call us on 0161 778 0814 or email us.

View the 360º Tour of the Local History Library: