Preserving the Guardian's history - in pictures

To celebrate Explore Your Archive week we’ve taken a look back at some of the Guardian’s significant buildings to explore the roles the library and the archive have played within them. The images in this gallery are a combination of those found in GNM Archive picture files as well as more recent examples collected by the Research and Information team.

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  • Cross Street in Manchester was the Guardian’s second home and was formally acquired in four lots at a cost of £23,000 between 1860 and 1867. By 1929 expansion work had begun to extend the building by taking in the offices of the Manchester Examiner. This photograph, probably taken by the Guardian’s first staff photographer Walter Doughty, shows excavation work as the process of expansion began. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    Cross Street in Manchester was the Guardian’s second home and was formally acquired in four lots at a cost of £23,000 between 1860 and 1867. By 1929 expansion work had begun to extend the building by taking in the offices of the Manchester Examiner. This photograph, probably taken by the Guardian’s first staff photographer Walter Doughty shows excavation work as the process of expansion began. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G)

  • The funeral cortege for former editor W.P. Crozier leaves the Cross Street offices in 1944. During the 1940s the weight of the building was shifted from one set of pillars to another to accommodate the installation of more printing presses. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    The funeral cortege for former editor W.P. Crozier leaves the Cross Street offices in 1944. During the 1940s the weight of the building was shifted from one set of pillars to another to accommodate the installation of more printing presses. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G.

  • A Guardian librarian examines a new spool of microfilm, June 1955. Each film contained the equivalent of two bound volumes (six months’ worth) of the Manchester Guardian. The library still maintains the microfilm collection but most readers and researchers use the digital archive which contains every issue of the paper from its debut in 1821 up until 2003. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    A Guardian librarian examines a new spool of microfilm, June 1955. Each spool contained the equivalent of two bound volumes (six months’ worth) of the Manchester Guardian. The library still maintains the microfilm collection but most readers and researchers use the digital archive which contains every issue of the paper from its debut in 1821 up until 2003.

  • The editors’ corridor in Cross Street. Geoffrey Whatmore, the paper’s first professional librarian, described the hallowed aisle in the early 1950s:‘Along the “corridor,” the claustrophobic opinion factory tellingly described by Neville Cardus still prevailed. Each leader writer’s room had a fireplace and the habit was to litter the room with books and papers, books stacked on chairs, window sills, mantelpiece...For a while the shadowy passage was obstructed by the miscellany editor’s large and somnolent dog who would lie across the passageway to the peril of unwary messengers.’
    The editors’ corridor in Cross Street. Geoffrey Whatmore, the paper’s first professional librarian, described the hallowed aisle in the early 1950s: ‘Along the “corridor,” the claustrophobic opinion factory tellingly described by Neville Cardus still prevailed. Each leader writer’s room had a fireplace and the habit was to litter the room with books and papers, books stacked on chairs, window sills, mantelpiece...For a while the shadowy passage was obstructed by the miscellany editor’s large and somnolent dog who would lie across the passageway to the peril of unwary messengers.’

  • A librarian consulting the Guardian index in 1969. Started in Victorian times, the index filled dozens of leather-bound volumes five inches thick, comprising a year’s entries in copper plate. Not until the 1930s was the system changed to cards. It was eventually given to Manchester Central Library but a microfilmed version can be found in the GNM Archive. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    A librarian consulting the Guardian index in 1969. Started in Victorian times, the index filled dozens of leather-bound volumes five inches thick, comprising a year’s entries in copper plate. Not until the 1930s was the system changed to cards. It was eventually given to Manchester Central Library but a microfilmed version can be found in the GNM archive (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • Examining the ‘spikes’ - short period collections of papers secured by flexible spikes - in the corridor at Cross Street. Despite the modern-day journalist having access to all manner of digital versions of the paper, many still prefer to read the dog-eared, hard-copy papers. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    Examining the ‘spikes’ - short period collections of papers secured by flexible spikes - in the corridor at Cross Street. Despite the modern-day journalist having access to all manner of digital versions of the paper, many still prefer to read the dog-eared, hard-copy papers. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • Model of the proposed Guardian building in Deansgate, as imagined in 1961. The new premises later became the company’s registered office from 7 December 1970, with the first issue published from the site on 31 August 1971. Thirty six years later, David Ward wrote a piece, Demolishing Deansgate, ahead of another move for the northern base of the paper. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    Model of the proposed Guardian building in Deansgate, as imagined in 1961. The new premises later became the company’s registered office from 7 December 1970, with the first issue published from the site on 31 August 1971. Thirty six years later, David Ward wrote a piece Demolishing Deansgate, ahead of another move for the northern base of the paper. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • On the 29 August 1970 the Guardian moved from Cross Street to 164 Deansgate. Workers carrying boxes of books from the library are captured here alongside a delivery messenger on duty during the big move. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    On the 29 August 1970 the Guardian moved from Cross Street to 164 Deansgate. Workers carrying boxes of books from the library are captured here alongside a delivery messenger on duty during the big move. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • In 1971 David Ayerst’s Biography of a Newspaper was published. A coinciding exhibition celebrating the Guardian’s 150th birthday opened to the public in the Deansgate foyer. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).
    In 1971 David Ayerst’s Biography of a Newspaper was published. A coinciding exhibition celebrating the Guardian’s 150th birthday opened to the public in the Deansgate foyer. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • Mr L.P Scott (left), Chairman of the Manchester Guardian and Evening News, and Professor A.L. Armitage, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University, look at the centenary album (1921) as the Guardian’s archives are handed over to The University of Manchester Library. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G)
    Mr L.P Scott (left), Chairman of the Manchester Guardian and Evening News, and Professor A.L. Armitage, Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University, look at the centenary album (1921) as the Guardian’s archives are handed over to The University of Manchester Library. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/1/4/G).

  • Frank Singleton, the Guardian’s chief librarian in Manchester for more than 35 years until his retirement in 1992. (Archive ref. DTH/2/2/34).When the editor’s office and major editorial departments relocated from Manchester to London in 1964, a new cuttings library was created in the capital but Frank continued to maintain a collection in the northern office. Keeper of the treasure: Frank Singleton’s obituary, 1994
    Frank Singleton, the Guardian’s chief librarian in Manchester for more than 35 years until his retirement in 1992. (Archive ref. DTH/2/2/34). When the editor’s office and major editorial departments relocated from Manchester to London in 1964, a new cuttings library was created in the capital but Frank continued to maintain a collection in the northern office. Keeper of the treasure: Frank Singleton’s obituary, 1994.

  • The Guardian moved from its London home on Gray’s Inn Road to 119 Farringdon Road in August 1976. Pictured here, shortly before editorial and production staff moved in, the sign reads: ‘This building will shortly be making news’. It was later replaced by large silver letters spelling The Guardian. The move was a success. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/2/2/115).
    The Guardian moved from its London home on Gray’s Inn Road to 119 Farringdon Road in August 1976. Pictured here, shortly before editorial and production staff moved in, the sign reads: ‘This building will shortly be making news’. It was later replaced by large silver letters spelling The Guardian. The move was a success. (Archive ref. GUA/6/9/2/2/115).

  • Before the appearance of online newspaper text databases in the 1980s, and the internet in the early 1990s, press cuttings were one of the main sources of information for journalists. Like every other news library across the land, staff at the Guardian would cut out stories from newspapers then file them away in subject folders according to the organisation’s unique classification system. The Guardian finally stopped cutting in 2000 but the library still holds part of the collection.
    Before the appearance of online newspaper text databases in the 1980s, and the internet in the early 1990s, press cuttings were one of the main sources of information for journalists. Like every other news library across the land, staff at the Guardian would cut out stories from newspapers then file them away in subject folders according to the organisation’s unique classification system. The Guardian finally stopped cutting in 2000 but the library still holds part of the collection.

  • Describing his first visit to the Cross Street library in 1951, Geoffrey Whatmore wrote: ‘Via a dark corridor we reached the library: walls of card index trays, piles of newspapers on wooden filing cabinets; half-tone blocks among coagulating paste pots.’Sixty years’ later, things felt much the same in the paper’s basement library store at Farringdon Road. Shelves of cuttings and bound volumes shared the space with broken air-conditioning machines, rickety old furniture and the occasional mouse. Smokers were known to escape to the store for a sneaky cigarette.
    Describing his first visit to the Cross Street library in 1951, Geoffrey Whatmore wrote: ‘Via a dark corridor we reached the library: walls of card index trays, piles of newspapers on wooden filing cabinets; half-tone blocks among coagulating paste pots.’<br><br>Sixty years’ later, things felt much the same in the paper’s basement library store at Farringdon Road. Shelves of cuttings and bound volumes shared the space with broken air-conditioning machines, rickety old furniture and the occasional mouse. Smokers were known to escape to the store for a sneaky cigarette.

  • The Newsroom, Archive and Visitor Centre, situated opposite the Guardian’s headquarters, opened on 17 June 2002 at 60 Farringdon Road. Transformed from a derelict warehouse, the Centre incorporated a state-of-the-art archive alongside an exhibition hall and schoolroom, giving the newspaper its first opportunity to preserve and provide access to its own historical records.
    The Newsroom, Archive and Visitor Centre, situated opposite the Guardian’s headquarters, opened on 17 June 2002 at 60 Farringdon Road. Transformed from a derelict warehouse, the Centre incorporated an exhibition hall and schoolroom alongside a a state-of-the-art archive, giving the newspaper its first opportunity to preserve and provide access to its own historical records.

  • The exterior architecture of Kings Place shortly before the Guardian moved in during December 2008. Guardian News and Media currently occupies floors 1-3 and half of floor 4.
    The exterior architecture of Kings Place shortly before the Guardian moved in during December 2008. Guardian News and Media currently occupies floors 1-3 and half of floor 4.<strong> </strong>

  • View of one of the current Archive stores situated in the basement at Kings Place. The archive holds official records of the Guardian and the Observer and also seeks to acquire material from people who have been associated with the papers. As well as corporate records the archive holds correspondence, diaries, notebooks, original cartoons and photographs belonging to staff of the papers.
    View of one of the current Archive stores situated in the basement at Kings Place. The archive holds official records of the Guardian and the Observer and also seeks to acquire material from people who have been associated with the papers. As well as corporate records the archive holds correspondence, diaries, notebooks, original cartoons and photographs belonging to staff of the papers.
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