Local studies at Dronfield Library
A library housed in a historic listed building where there is great enthusiasm for local history. This is shown by the long-established and very well-attended monthly local history workshops on Thursday mornings.
The book stock includes a good selection of the classic county histories, some Trade Directories plus Chesterfield and North East Derbyshire titles. Sheffield and South Yorkshire are also represented with particular reference to the historic local industries of the area. All but the rarest are available for both reference and loan.
There are multiple copies of books about Dronfield and area including a permanent file of the Dronfield Miscellany journal, minutes of the Dronfield and District Natural History Society from 1995 and Churches Together in Dronfield and District from 1996. Local history and ephemera files round out the picture of the town today.
A microfiche reader is provided for the set of Derbyshire Trade Directories and census returns 1841-1901 covering Dronfield, Dronfield Woodhouse, Barlow, Coal Aston, Holmesfield, Unstone, Killamarsh, plus parts of Staveley and outer Chesterfield area. Uniquely for Derbyshire, a section of out of county census is held here. When the Wilson Cammell steelworks closed in Dronfield in 1884 there was a mass exodus of families who followed the company to its new location in Workington, Cumbria. Here you can seek out the"Dronnies" in their new homes in the Workington census of 1891.
There is a selection of local mapping including both Ordnance Survey of various dates and scales and recently published historical mapping showing Dronfield field names 1846 and an annotated map of the town in 1881. News cuttings files have been kept since 1975 and there is a photographic collection of around 300 images of the town and area.