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Oxfordshire History Centre is in the former Church of England parish church of St Luke, Cowley, Oxford, England. It collects, preserves and makes available the records of the historic county of Oxfordshire. It holds original records and printed material from the 12th to 21st century, which are available for all to see free of charge. It is owned and run by Oxfordshire County Council. It is recognised as a place of deposit by The National Archives.
Contents
History
An office was established by Oxfordshire County Council in 1935 and was in County Hall in Oxford. Its remit was to collect historic documents related to the history of Oxfordshire as well as the records of Oxfordshire County Council itself. These collections were significantly enlarged when the Bodleian Library transferred responsibility for the diocesan, archdeaconry and parish collections of Oxfordshire to the History Centre in 1984.
As the collections grew, storage space in County Hall was augmented by a series of remote stores. However, by the 1990s increasing visitor numbers as well as an acute need for more storage space meant that a new building was essential. The Diocese of Oxford offered the County Council the redundant parish church of St Luke in Cowley and this building, built at the behest of Lord Nuffield as a place of worship for the workers in his Cowley factories was converted with the support of the Heritage Lottery Fund, Paul Getty and other donors.
The new Office opened to the public in November 2000.
In 2011 the former Oxfordshire Record Office and Oxfordshire Studies services were merged into one comprehensive history service and renamed Oxfordshire History Centre.
Visitor information
Oxfordshire History Centre is open to visitors. The Centre is part of the County Archive Network Research.
Holdings
Oxfordshire History Centre holds a wide range of records which may be of use in family history, local history or other types of research:
The Oxfordshire History Centre allows organisations and private individuals to deposit relevant records concerning Oxfordshire.
Catalogues can be accessed online on Heritage Search, A2A, or in the searchroom.
Information about other records
On site, the records are cared for by are professionally qualified archivists, a conservator, and local studies librarian. However, relevant records are also elsewhere:
Dark Archivist
In May 2007 Oxfordshire History Centre launched the Dark Archivist website. This website was designed to allow people to access some of Oxfordshire’s interesting history without necessarily visiting the Oxfordshire History Centre. It features the Dark Archivist, who takes the visitor around Oxfordshire through the ages, searching for sinister crimes which took place hundreds of years ago, looking for old remedies and reading up on crimes as they might have been written up by journalists today.