Teaching and Learning

 

 

Our unique collections support many areas of the National Curriculum at a variety of Key Stages. 

 

 

In addition our collections can be used in a number of other subject areas such as linguistics and language change and law and sociology for example.

 

We offer access to original primary source material from Tudor times through to the 21^st century.  A particularly important element of our class visit sessions is that the children can see and touch original archive material and use it to understand their history and their environment.

 

 

We offer class visits to the Central Library and to Sheffield Archives or we can visit your school to deliver a session in the classroom. The sessions involve an introduction on how to make the best of the service, hints and tips in research followed by the chance to see and use original material related to your chosen topic.

 

Class visits tend to last 2 hours.  For primary children there is a break halfway through with a drink.

 

We also provide introductory sessions for teaching staff - these can be informal one to ones where you can discuss your requirements with us or we can arrange a more formal INSET group session. One to one sessions last about 90 minutes and INSET sessions are usually for half a day.

 

 

We offer Teaching Packs for Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 on a growing number of subjects.  These consist of PowerPoints featuring archive material for use in the classroom. Included are questions and ideas for further activities, as well as background information, transcripts and references.  The PowerPoints can be used in the classroom or as a basis for a class visit to us.

 

Copies of the PowerPoints can be downloaded from the bottom of this page.

 

We can also provide a Focus Pack based on the locality of your school.  These PowerPoints include 19^th and 20th century Ordnance Survey maps, extracts from census returns 1841 - 1911, lists of occupations and addresses from trade directories c. 1850 - 1940, extracts from school log books (if available), newspaper advertisements, archive photographs, extracts from parish registers. Also included are Sheffield based extracts from a Victorian prison calendar, a medical officer of health report and workhouse records.

 

Focus packs are based on primary research and we need 4 weeks notice to research and produce your pack.  There is a charge of £70 per pack as a contribution to our time researching and reproducing the documents.

 

 

 

 

 

The collections at Sheffield Archives and Local Studies Library support education and research at all levels of further and higher education, from foundation courses to higher degrees. Sources range from medieval manuscripts to recently published works based on Sheffield and the immediate surrounding area.

 

For tutors expecting their students to use primary and secondary material for their studies we recommend you contact us so we can advise on suitable sources. 

 

We publish a series of study guides, based on a variety of themes. Some examples include: the General Strike, slavery and the slave trade, suffragettes, World War One, the Miners’ Strike of 1984-1985, the Hillsborough Stadium Disaster of 1989 and sources for researching sexuality.  These study Guides provide detailed lists of sources and references from which students can access our collections. For details see our publications page.

 

Many of our key collections are detailed in the ‘What Collections Do We Have?’ section of our website

 

We can also host group visits by tutors and their students.  These are usually a mix of hints and tips to make the most out of your research visit, how to use our catalogues and finding aids and sources for particular research areas. We also provide sessions on palaeography. Sessions cover both Archives and Local Studies and are usually hosted at the Archives (at Shoreham Street) or in the Central Library.  The sessions last for up to two hours. There is no charge for these.

 

Whether your enquiry is principally archive or library based contact Mike Spick at localstudies.library@sheffield.gov.uk or tel. 0114 273 4753 for further information.