Using the ‘Manchester Guardian’ newspaper in your assessments or dissertations
The University of Manchester Special Collections holds the Guardian (formerly Manchester Guardian) Archive. It is a rich primary source that can be used to enhance and extend your written work and other assessments. Whether you are a college student working on your Extended Project Qualification (EPQ) or an undergraduate or postgraduate, the back editions of the Manchester Guardian newspaper offer an outstanding source for every aspect of nineteenth and twentieth century history. From politics, sport and theatre to international politics and changing social attitudes. Students at the University of Manchester can access the digitised back editions of the Guardian via Proquest. This will introduce you to the published content.
In 1971, as the Guardian newspaper closed operations in Manchester and cleared its production sites and warehouses, a vast collection of business records, correspondence, dispatches and printed materials was gifted to the University of Manchester Library. The Guardian Archive (and by this we mean the business records that capture the day-to-day running of the newspaper) are held in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester. They date from the newspaper’s foundation in 1821 to the early 1970s, just after the newspaper moved to London.
What’s in the Guardian (formerly Manchester Guardian) Archive?
The Guardian Archive fills about one thousand boxes which take up about 131 linear metres of shelving. It contains two main sections:
- Correspondence and dispatches about almost every aspect of late nineteenth and twentieth-century history.
- A comprehensive set of records relating to the Guardian as a business. As the diagram below shows these range from photographs and wage books to objects, letters from readers to site plans and financial ledgers.
The topics covered are vast and wide ranging. Its particular strengths are:
You can find out more about the Guardian Archive here. You will see that some elements of the collection have detailed catalogues and for other parts there are only pdf lists that give a top level overview. The Guardian Archive is only partly catalogued and it can be difficult to locate and find materials. If you need help please do get in touch with Reader Services who will answer your queries or direct requests to the Modern History Curator. We welcome enquiries from students and are very happy to help with dissertation questions so do feel free to get in touch.
The majority of records in the Guardian Archive are physical and not digitised this means that you will need to book an appointment and visit the Reading Room located at the John Rylands Library on Deansgate. You can find out more on what to expect when you visit us and our opening hours here.
Please note — Post 1970s material created by the Guardian newspaper are held in London at The Guardian News and Media Archive. They have a reading room and welcome enquiries.
Digitised Manchester Guardian materials
To coincide the bicentenary the Library digitised some highlights from the collection including correspondence relating to Nancy Cunard (1896–1965) writer, publisher and political activist; Don Davies ( 1892-1958) Manchester Guardian Sports correspondent who perished in the Munich Air Disaster of 1958 and Morgan Philips Price, (1941–1964) Russian correspondent for the Guardian alongside materials surrounding the 100th anniversary of the Manchester Guardian. You will also find 2 editions of ‘San Serriffe’ (1977 and 1978) The Guardian’s long-running April Fools joke centred on a floating island. The digitised Manchester Guardian collection is found here
To get a flavour of the types of material held in the Guardian Archive take a look at our online exhibition: Manchester’s Guardian: 200 years of the Guardian newspaper
A brief history of the Guardian newspaper
The first edition of the Manchester Guardian appeared on Saturday 5 May 1821 and from modest beginnings, it grew in national and international significance. It was published weekly on Saturdays until 1836, when a Wednesday edition was added. In 1855 the abolition of Stamp Duty on newspapers finally made it possible to publish the paper daily, at a reduced cover price of 2d.
In 1872 CP Scott was appointed editor. Scott was a fiercely principled man and a liberal thinker with a wide range of progressive interests. He held the post of editor for a remarkable 57 years. It was during the Scott years that the paper grew from a provincial player to a well-respected newspaper on the national and global stage.
In 1921, during his 50th year of editorship, Scott wrote a leading article to mark the centenary of the Manchester Guardian. His essay, A Hundred Years, is recognised around the world as a model for independent journalism. It includes phrases that are still used by the Guardian newspaper to this day:
“Comment is free, but facts are sacred…The voice of opponents no less than that of friends has a right to be heard.”
CP Scott died on New Year’s Day 1932 . Four years later, in 1936, the ownership of the Manchester Guardian was transferred to The Scott Trust to protect the Guardian from crippling death duties and to ensure the editorial independence of the newspaper.
From the early 1930s, and at considerable risk to reporters and informants, the Manchester Guardian was one of the few English newspapers to forcefully criticise Hitler . Reports in the Manchester Guardian exposed the violence and antisemitism that lay at the heart of Nazi ideology. Perhaps not surprisingly, the Manchester Guardian was banned from Germany in spring 1933. The Guardian Newspaper’s European Foreign Correspondence files during the editorship of William Crozier are a particularly rich resource for dissertations.
From 1952 the front page no longer carried classified advertisements and instead carried the top news story of the day. The front page also changed significantly 7 years later. In August 1959 there was a chorus of disapproval from devoted readers when the Guardian dropped ‘Manchester’ from its title. For many years, most sales were outside of the city and the name change was in keeping with its national circulation.
In 1964 another change signifying growing ambition occurred when the Editor’s Office and key Editorial departments relocated from Manchester to London, joining existing London-based Guardian staff at Grays Inn Road.
On 29 August 1970 the Guardian moves from its home in Cross Street, Manchester to new offices in nearby Deansgate. This was a significant and poignant change as the Guardian had been written and printed from its famous Cross Street building since 1886.
Additional Resources
For a more detailed look at the history of the Guardian see this timeline of the Guardian newspaper’s history
Useful books in the University of Manchester Library include:
- David Ayerst, ‘Guardian: Biography of a Newspaper’, 1971
- J L Hammond, ‘CP Scott of the Manchester Guardian’, 1934
The following blogs may also be of interest:
You can find further blog posts on aspects of the Manchester Guardian in the Rylands Blog: news of collections, research and activities at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library
Discussion Points
The Manchester Guardian succeeded the short-lived radical newspaper the Manchester Observer (1818–1822), why do you think that was?
Do you buy newspapers or consume your news online? How do changes in consumer behaviour shape how news is reported and financed?
Images reproduced with the permission of The John Rylands University Librarian and Director of the University of Manchester Library. For further information about each image please follow the link in the caption description.
