What are the opening hours?

Tuesday 10am - 4pm Wednesday 10am - 4pm Saturday 10am - 1pm

Swindon Local Studies

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Swindon Local Studies

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The Local Studies collection for the Borough of Swindon, held at Central Library. The official Local Studies collection for the Borough of Swindon.

Key resources:

Complete GRO index of Births, Marriages & Deaths, for the whole of England and Wales (1837-1999)
GRO Overseas index
International Genealogical Index (The LDS or Mormon Index)
Census records (1841-1901) with surname and street indexes where available
Parish registers, bishops transcripts and surname transcriptions where available (from 1538)
Free access to Ancestry, British Newspaper Archive, Find My Past and other great online resources. All available local parish magazines, newsletters and journals, including staff magazines for the Great Western Railway, Wills To***co, Garrards and Vickers. Complete microfilm run of all local newspapers, including the Swindon Evening Advertiser (from 1854) and the North Wilts Herald (from 1861).
4 microfiche readers and 3 microfilm/fiche readers with printing
Large collection of all available books, scrapbooks, leaflets, reports, and other ephemera. Voters lists & electoral rolls for Swindon and Thamesdown (from 1945 to date)
Street, trade and telephone directories (including Kelly's 1848-1939)
Local authors collection with an emphasis on Alfred Williams and Richard Jefferies. Extensive collection of local maps (including earliest Ordnance Survey maps, geological, GOAD, political, street maps - even Soviet "Red Army" maps)
Large historical photographic collection (over 50,000 items)
Fully searchable online catalogue

22/10/2026

Please note that due to staff illness, Local Studies will be closed on Saturday 24th October.
We apologise for any inconvenience.
Please email [email protected] with any enquiries.

20/10/2026

The heavens have opened and the nights are drawing in – it’s time to break out your winter boots! This illustrated advert is taken from Astill’s 1878 Swindon Almanack and Trades Register.

01/09/2026

Join us for this Heritage Open Days talk where we will be discussing what everyday life was like for women in Swindon in the 19th and 20th centuries. We will explore where women worked, how they spent their free time, how they ran their homes, and why a gas supply may have been the ideal wedding gift. Thursday 17th September, 7pm at Swindon Central Library. There is no need to book.

25/08/2026

Join us for a tour of Swindon’s Local Studies collection during Heritage Open Days. Come and explore the hidden treasures of Everyday Lives in Swindon! We collect everything from scrapbooks and business ephemera to diaries and theatre programmes. Monday 14th September, 11am-12pm. This free tour must be booked in advance. Please email [email protected] to reserve your place.

18/08/2026

Do you need help researching your family history? Volunteers from the Wiltshire Family History Society will be in Local Studies on Tuesday 8th September to help unpick your family history puzzles.

12/08/2026

Local Studies will be closed on Saturday 15th August due to a shortage of staff. We apologise for any inconvenience.

27/07/2026

Save the date! Our next family history drop-in session will be taking place on Tuesday 8th September.

21/07/2026

Swindon and Wiltshire Pride is running a groundbreaking project to discover Wiltshire’s hidden LGBTQIA+ history. With support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and partnered by Swindon Local Studies and Wiltshire & Swindon History Centre, we’re uncovering the stories of how LGBTQIA+ people lived and loved from the early c19th to the legalization of same-sex marriage in 2014.

Your lives and experiences, good and bad, are important. The LGBTQIA+ community is barely represented in the history books and archives. We’re going to change that!

Stories we’ve already learned include: WWII hero and Chippenham MP, Victor Cazalet and author Richard Hall who’s shared his 1990s coming out experiences (pictured)

Find out more and add your voice to history…
at the We Were Always Here stall at Pride at the GWR Park, Swindon on 15th August; online at www.swindonwiltshirepride.org.uk/pride-history-project (anonymously, if you prefer), or email [email protected].

Come to our Pride Fortnight talk, “Why LGBTQIA+ History Matters” at the Pride Hub, Brunel Centre on Tuesday 4th August at 6pm to find out why you’re an important part of history!

Address

Swindon Central Library, Regent Circus
Swindon
SN11QG

Opening Hours

Tuesday	10am - 4pm
Wednesday	10am - 4pm
Saturday	10am - 1pm

Website

http://www.swindon.gov.uk/localstudies, http://www.flickr.com/swindonlocal/, http://twitter.com/SwindonLocal

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