York Minster

Department of Archives and Manuscripts

The archives and manuscripts department of the Minster Library curates a wide range of material relating to the Christian Church and Yorkshire history, dating from about the year 1000 to the present day. It is used by Minster staff to assist them with their work and is open to other researchers, by appointment only, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons (1:30-4:45). For details of how to make an appointment, see ‘Requesting Material’, below.

Holdings

The following categories of material are held by the department:

• The archives of the Dean and Chapter of York (the governing body of the Minster) and associated organisations (c.1150 onwards)
• Papers of some archbishops of York (17th cent.-1985)
• Local Methodist material (1797-1916)
• Archives of local societies (1840s onwards)
• Manuscript collections (10th-20th cent.), incl. music manuscripts (16th-20th cent.). NB: printed music is in the Library.
• Antiquarian collections of material mainly relating to Yorkshire (12th-20th cent.)
• Collections of photographs mainly relating to the Minster and York (19th cent. onwards)
• Video and sound recordings mainly relating to the Minster (1930s onwards)

Note on the Records of the Archbishop and Parishes in the Diocese of York

The majority of the records of the Archbishop of York are held by the Borthwick Institute for Archives, which is the official repository of the York Diocesan Archives. The Borthwick Institute also holds the records of parishes in the Archdeaconry of York, while the records of parishes in the archdeaconries of the East Riding and Cleveland are held by the East Riding of Yorkshire Archives and Local Studies Service and the North Yorkshire County Record Office, respectively. Please note, however, that we hold the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials for the Minster and the chapel of the Vicars Choral of York Minster (for further details, visit our Resources for Family History page).

Searching the holdings

Most of the finding aids to the department’s holdings have not yet been published, and are only available to search on site. (To find out more about these finding aids, please contact the Archivist). What follows is an account of those finding aids which have been published, either electronically or in hard copy.

Katherine M. Longley’s 1977 guide to the archives (and records among the manuscript collections) is incorporated to Access to Archives (A2A), which also includes the calendars of the Dean and Chapter’s lease registers (with the exception of the Deanery registers) for the period 1767-1894, and the catalogue of the petty and quarter sessions records of the Justices of the Peace for the Liberty of St Peter, the Dean and Chapter’s secular jurisdiction (1735-1838).

The Yorkshire manorial documents among the Dean and Chapter’s archives, the Additional Manuscripts Collection, and the Hailstone Collection are included in the Manorial Documents Register. (A complete hard copy list of manorial documents--including some from Bishop’s Frome (Herefordshire), Stoke (Kent?), and Well and Alford (Lincolnshire)--is available on site.)

The catalogue entries for many of the records among the manuscript collections (the XVI Manuscripts and Additional Manuscripts 1-319--there are now over 750 Additional Manuscripts) are incorporated to A2A. The non-record medieval manuscripts are catalogued in N. R. Ker and A. J. Piper, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, vol. 4: Paisley-York (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1992), which is available in bay 7 of our reading room (shelf mark: Bay 7, 091 KER).

The music manuscripts are catalogued in David Griffiths, A Catalogue of the Music Manuscripts in York Minster Library, York Minster Library Sectional Catalogues, vol. 2 (n.p.: 1981), which is also available in our reading room (shelf mark: Bay 5, Folio, YM: GRI), and is available to purchase for £20 (add £5 for postage). To order a copy, please send a cheque made payable to the ‘Dean and Chapter of York’ to the Library Assistants, York Minster Library and Archives, Dean's Park, York, YO1 7JQ.

Major accessions to the Department of Archives and Manuscripts since 1996 are listed in the ARCHON Directory.

If you would like to make an appointment to consult material identified as a result of searching the published finding aids, please see ‘Requesting Material’, below.

Requesting a search

Researchers may visit the department to search its finding aids (catalogues, indexes, etc.) free of charge. If you are unable to do this, staff will undertake a search of the finding aids on your behalf for a fee of £15 per 30 minutes (including time taken to write up the search). The minimum fee of £15 is payable in advance and you will be billed in arrears for any additional time spent at your request.

To request a search of our finding aids, please complete a 'Search Request Form' (see under 'Useful documents', above, on the left of the page) and return it to us, together with a cheque for the minimum fee of £15.

With two exceptions, the department does not examine original material on behalf of enquirers. The exceptions are as follows: (a) staff will undertake searches of the RAF book of remembrance (NE England, WWII) free of charge; (b) staff will undertake searches for baptisms, marriages, and burials in the unpublished Minster or Vicars Choral registers (see our Resources for Family History page) for the same fee as a finding-aid search. To request a search of the RAF book or the registers of baptisms, marriages, and burials, please complete a 'Search Request Form'.

Requesting material

1. Make an appointment for the day on which you would like to read in the department by contacting the Archivist.

2. On the day of your appointment, complete one document request slip (available in the archives and manuscripts area of the reading room) for each item or run of items that you would like to consult.

3. Submit your request slips to the Archivist.

4. The requested items will be brought to you at your seat in the archives and manuscripts area of the reading room.

Please note:

• Readers may submit a maximum of four tickets at one time.
• The Reading Room closes at 4:45 p.m.

Consulting material

The following rules are to be observed in the archives and manuscripts reading area:

• Book rests are to be used with bound volumes.

• Gloves are to be worn with parchment (but not paper) documents.

• Appropriate weights (snakes for bound volumes, heavier weights for rolled and flat documents) may be used to restrain documents.

• You may only use pencil or a laptop to take notes.

• Food and drink of any description are not permitted in the Reading Room.

• Photocopying is by Archives staff only. If you would like to order photocopies or photographs, please fill in a request form (available on the Archives and Manuscripts Reading Area tables).

• Please leave your documents on the table when you have finished with them, in the order and/or wrappings in which they were supplied to you.

If you require assistance with the above or anything else, please ask a member of Archives staff.

Contacting us

Please see our Contacts page for contact details and directions to York Minster Library and Archives.