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Dudley Archives and Local History

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Dudley Archives and Local History

Dudley Archives and Local History Service collects, preserves and makes available archive and local

06/09/2026

For National Cinema Weekend (5th and 6th September), we have found images of the Criterion Cinema in Dudley. First a pub and music hall , The Criterion Electric Theatre began showing pictures as early as 1911. In 1923 it re-opened as The Criterion Picture House with a larger auditorium and a new front on Market Street. It was considered at the time as Dudley's finest picture palace. The cinema closed in 1956, with 'Reach for the Sky' with Kenneth More being the last film to be shown.
Photograph: (Pst/2256) - Market Place, Dudley, 1956 by Graham J Knowles
Drawings and plans: (LD 725.822 P) Plans and particulars of proposed new cinema, Market Place, Dudley.

04/09/2026

We would love to see you at this year's Local History Day, taking place on Saturday 17th October, here at Dudley Archives.

We have several talks and tours available on the day and we will be joined by a range of local stallholders, including stalls from local family history and society groups. There will be publications for sale, refreshments, and raffle tickets available for purchase. Our Friends of Dudley Archives will be on hand to help you with any family history questions you may have.

This is a FREE event and we welcome drop-ins, but we kindly request that talks/ tours are booked in advance as spaces are limited. To book, please speak to a member of staff at the Archives front desk, or call the department during our opening hours on 01384 812770 (Tuesday 10am-5pm, Wednesday-Saturday 10am-4pm), or email us: [email protected].

This year’s talks/ tours are::

10:30am – 11:30am: Talk by Graham Worton, ‘Discoveries in the darkness – piecing together the journey of the Black Country through deep time’, Keeper of Geology & Black Country UNESCO Global Geopark coordinator

11:40am – 12:10pm; 1:30pm – 2:00pm: Behind-the-scenes tours of our archive repositories

12:15pm – 1:15pm: Talk by Kevin Goodman, Author and Medical Historian, ‘Quack Prince of Swindlers’ Rise and falls of an “electric” quack doctor’

2:00pm – 2:30pm: Dudley Museum Tour by Graham Worton

01/09/2026

WORLD LETTER WRITING DAY:
Here we have a letter from the inhabitants of Dudley (c.1861) to 'Messrs. Wilkinson and Sons' stating that their building, smoke or emissions are not a nuisance as their chimneys are high enough to not be an 'annoyance' and that their manufactory is actually a 'benefit to the town'. The letter is signed by many local people.
(Ref: Z229/X1/5)

26/08/2026

National Dog Day '26: From these two images it looks like the Victorians loved their dogs as much as we do. On the left is an image of a Victorian lady and her two dogs sitting for a formal portrait, date and sitter unknown (C9468/1/3- Miscellaneous collection Dudley). On the right is a poster for a lost dog, from 21 August 1867 (PO/313 -Poster of Lost on Monday Evening last... A small Black and Tan Terrier Dog )

19/08/2026

INTERNATIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY DAY!
Here are two images taken by the photographer Ivan S. Moseley c/o Dudley Photographic Society.
The first image (ref: pto/5158) is titled 'The Wife sent me'.
The second image (ref: pto/5192) is titled 'A Break from Shopping'. Both images were taken in 1957 as a part of Photographic Studies.

13/08/2026

The Explore Your Archive theme for August is 'Surprise'. We found this collection of dressmaking coursework donated by a student at Dudley and Staffordshire Technical College in the 1960s. The folders include examples of embroidery and dress patterns (not normally held in our collections). They are an interesting glimpse into styles and fashions of the time. (C10247/3 - Coursework file entitled 'Machine Embroidery')

08/08/2026

Happy International Cat Day!

Here we have an image of a miner tending one of the pit ponies and feeding the local cat at Baggeridge Colliery.
The cats were employed as natural pest control in mines, ensuring that the stables were clear of rats and mice. They were well taken care of by miners, provided with food and shelter. After mine closures, they were re-homed, usually to farms.
ref: p/1802

30/07/2026

: These are drawings by the Architect, Lewis Stride of a proposed tower and spire for St Marks church, Pensnett. The drawings show different positions for the tower and spire. The spire was never built, as illustrated in the photograph by James Brookes (p/3288) taken in 2001. The beautiful watercolour (slightly damaged) is an Architects impression of the church sitting in the 'Pensnett Chase' (DE/8/6/3) - Designs for Pensnett Church by Lewis Stride.
Further papers related to the church spire are in the Dudley Estate collection, (DE/8/6).

23/07/2026

We recently welcomed students from Kingswinford Academy to Dudley Archives. Students had the chance to look through records from our archive and local studies collections as part of their project on post war Britain, which includes topics such as youth culture, music, entertainment, shopping, housing and fashion.

The Friends of Dudley Archives (FDALHS) were on hand to help the students with their visit and answer any questions. The Friends are currently working on their project 'Dudley, What Did You Do Next? - From Austerity to Prosperity' which looks at Dudley during the twenty years between 1945 - 1965 to see how Dudley recovered and prospered after WW2 and what major events and changes impacted the area.

14/07/2026

Black Country History Day, 14th July 2026:
As part of the celebration of all things Black Country we have found phrases from a selection of books we hold on Black Country dialect.
Can you tell us what these Black Country phrases mean?
- Thass riffy
- Well, Ar'll goo t'Brahl'ill
- Tararabit
- Dun yow wannt a piecey?
We also have books written in local dialect by Tim Vincent and Gordon Fanthom; and the 'Where's our spake gone?' project.
Main Photo (pto/5202) by F. Rogers c/o Dudley Photographic Society.

Address

Tipton Road
Dudley
DY14SQ

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 5pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Thursday	10am - 4pm
Friday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 4pm

Telephone

+441384812770

Website

https://www.better.org.uk/library/dudley/archives-and-local-history-centre

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