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Weaver to Web is a new project being undertaken by Calderdale
Council. It is aimed at raising the historic profile of the
Calderdale area both in a regional and national sense. This bold
digitisation project has been made possible by the award of £106,000
provided by the New
Opportunities Fund.
In addition to raising awareness of Calderdale's historical significance,
the project has two main objectives, material preservation and
public access to material. In digitising rare and fragile material
we hope that the original documents will not deteriorate further
through manual handling.
A key element of the project has been to produce a searchable
visual archive featuring material relating to the textile industry
that grew, rose to fame and eventually declined in and around
the Halifax area. You can access the visual archive through this
link.
Whilst including aspects of weaving as a process, the visual archive
maintains its focus on the social history of the local economy
and local community.
 The
project has employed three
local history consultants in order to identify significant
material from collections held by the Central Library in Halifax
and local partner organisations. Selected material is digitised,
added to the online collection and is available freely to educational
establishments and the public on a 24 hour, 7 days a week basis.
Whilst preserving and providing access to a wide range of material
including newspapers,
colour
postcards and handbills,
the project is primarily designed as a research tool with extensive
search capabilities enabling distance e-learning and directly
contributes to the Government's
National Grid for Learning initiative.
From Weaver to Web was launched on the 10th of January 2003 and
is one of four regional projects concerning textile history along
with Manchester
City Council, Blackburn
and Darwen and Leicester
County Council under the consortium title of "Spinning
the Web"
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