Bradford Heritage Recording Unit
"Oral history gives history back to the people in their own words…"
The Bradford Heritage Recording Unit (BHRU) was set up in 1983 to create a sound, visual and written archive of the Bradford District. Tape recorded interviews and photographs are collected to document the memories, reflections, attitudes and experiences of local people of all ages, classes and races. Recording people's experiences in their own words brings history vividly to life, is preserved in the archive, and is made accessible by producing exhibitions, publications, CD-Roms and cassette packages.
The archive includes a large number of interviews and photographs which reflect Bradford's industrial and multi-cultural heritage. People interviewed talk about their childhood and family background, education, working life and leisure activities, often exploring their attitudes and experiences of religion, culture, politics etc. Photographs copied from family albums, collected from newspaper and commercial photographers, or taken by photographers working for BHRU, complement these interviews. These pictures, taken over the past one hundred years, give glimpses of life in the Bradford District often overlooked by other sources, and explore the area's links with other parts of the world.
An important collection of over 700 interviews is available to the public through the Local Studies Library (tel 01274 433688), part of Bradford Central Library, and includes sound recordings, transcripts and summaries. BHRU photographs also make up part of the local illustrations collection held at the library, and thousands of other pictures can be browsed online on this website. Some of the material has been incorporated into permanent displays at Bradford Industrial Museum.
A permanent record of many of BHRU's projects has been created in the form of books. Destination Bradford – A Century of Immigration, Here to Stay - Bradford’s South Asian Communities and Textile Voices - Mill Life This Century have sold out, but remain available through libraries. Keeping the Faith - the Polish Community in Britain, Ukraine's Forbidden History, Home from Home- British Pakistanis in Mirpur, Asians in Britain and a new edition of Textile Voices are for sale in bookshops and other outlets. A CD-Rom entitled Roads to Bradford - 150 Years of Immigration and various compilation tapes of extracts from interviews are also available. For further information please contact Maggie Pedley at the Bradford Industrial Museum on 01274 435900.
