Regular Shifts

Join us at Oldham Archives as we deliver Headliners: Revealing Real Life Through the Oldham Chronicle. Funded through The National Archives’ Archives Revealed fund, this cataloguing and engagement project aims to improve access to the Oldham Chronicle Archive and engage communities with stories to be found in the collection. The project is built around three themes identified through community consultation: Real life in Oldham, Sporting history and Documenting diasporas.

Many people from Oldham remember having their photograph taken by an Oldham Chronicle photographer and sometimes seeing it in the newspaper. You could buy copies of photographs from the office on Union Street. The Oldham Chronicle Archive includes the original photographic negatives from the 1930s to the 2010s as glass plates, medium format sheets, 35mm strips and digital files. These negatives are indexed in bound notebooks covering 1936-1992. The indexes describe the images and give an indication of whether they were printed in the Chron. Headliners will help us to preserve the index books and digitise the information in them, alongside documenting, digitising and preserving the original negatives.

We are looking for people who are interested in one or more of the project themes and can commit at least half a day a week to volunteer at Oldham Archives. This is an opportunity to get hands on with original material from the Oldham Chronicle Archive. You will learn new skills, meet new people and contribute to making this wonderful archive more accessible to the people of Oldham and beyond.

This activity has a set timeframe, but you do not need to commit to the full period of work. We want to build a team of volunteers who can take part in our work when they have time and who want to keep volunteering with us.

Timeframe: November 2026 to March 2027 (18 weeks)

Key Tasks: Working with another person, you will read the handwritten entries in each index book and type them into a spreadsheet template using a laptop provided by the project.

Requirements: Two teams of two people for each half day slot. There will be three volunteering days per week. You can volunteer for one slot or for the full three days. You will be supported by the Headliners Project Archivist and by Oldham Archives’ permanent Archivist.

Overview: You will work on index volumes from the period 1938-1969. You will be allocated one volume at a time. Each volume will have its own transcription spreadsheet. You will be shown how to carry out the work by a project team member and will be given a set of written instructions to refer back to. After you complete the transcription of a volume, it will be checked by a project team member. After your work is checked and any corrections made, if you are happy to continue, you will be given another volume to work on.

Hours: Full day 10am-4.45pm (45 minute lunch break at 1pm); Half day 10am-1pm or 1.45pm-4.45pm

Days: TBD

Travel Reimbursement: up to £2.50 per half day (on provision of travel receipts)

Based: Oldham Archives, Ascroft Street, Oldham, OL1 1HY

Archives Revealed is the only grant programme in the United Kingdom dedicated to cataloguing and unlocking archival collections. The programme is funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Pilgrim Trust, the Wolfson Foundation and The National Archives. Its goal is to ensure that significant archive collections—representing the lives and perspectives of people across the UK—are made accessible for public research and enjoyment.

What's involved?

Reading old handwriting in index books recording the photographic negatives from the Oldham Chronicle, and making accurate copies in a spreadsheet.

Why get involved?

Get hands on with original material from the Oldham Chronicle Archive, learn how to read old handwriting and make an accurate copy in a spreadsheet, meet new people and help Oldham Archives make its collection easier to use.

How to get involved?

Register your interest here and the Volunteer Coordinator will be in touch.