Mansfield Library

By David Crute

Mansfield Library – Local History

The current Mansfield Library on Westgate was formally opened in 1977 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in her Silver Jubilee year. The original public library, on Leeming Street, had been opened in 1906 on land donated by the Duke of Portland and financed by Andrew Carnegie.

The Local History floor of the library holds a wealth of material of use to both the local and family historian.

• Books, periodicals and newspaper cuttings for the county as a whole, though in most detail for Mansfield.
  
  
• Photographs, picture postcards and slides.
  
  
• Local newspapers on microfilm from 1858 to date, plus the Chad on DVD from 2002.
  
  
• Large scale Ordnance Survey maps covering the District of Mansfield from the first edition county series (circa 1880) to 2000.
  
  
• International Genealogical Index (I.G.I.) on microfiche for every county in England.
  
  
• Parish Registers on microfiche covering most of the north of the county up to the 1950s.
  
  
•  Electoral Registers on microfiche for Mansfield and area from the 1880s to the 1990s.
  
  
• Census Returns on microfilm and fiche for every decade from 1841 to 1901 for Mansfield and area.
  
  
• Local newspapers on microfilm from 1858 to date (plus the Chad on DVD from 2002 onwards).
  

In 2010 the library will be closed temporarily to undergo a £3m. refurbishment; but the entire Local History collection is still accessible at Mansfield Woodhouse Library, enquiries welcome.