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The civic archive is the historical archive of the City of York Council and predecessor bodies. The oldest surviving record dates from 1155. It is the archive of the civic life of the city and will continue to grow and take in new records to preserve the present for the future.

The collection is rich and varied record of everyday life in the city of York over many centuries. The core collection consists of the records of governance and adminstration, such as council minutes from 1476, chamberlain's accounts from 1398 and the minutes of dozens of committees on subjects as diverse as air raids, libraries, public assistance and markets.

The collection also includes the records of departments (from the twentieth century) and arms length bodies whose responsibilites were transferred to or from the council over time, such as the trustees for the Ouse and the Foss.

To explore record creators such as committees or civic officials search for 'corporate bodies' in the catalogue, where you can find detailed information and a link to the records of each. This is a good way of unpicking the complex web of departments and committees which changed their names often whilst continuing to carry out the same function.

This catalogue is a selection of the civic archive showing the records which are currently available for access only. Further historical and modern records will be added as they are catalogued and processed into the new archive store at York Explore, including records post 1974.

Records containing the personal data of individuals living or presumed to be living are restricted under the Data Protection Act.