South Wales Coalfield recreation (sport, social organisations and events) photographs

Includes photographs of sports teams and sports, choirs, bands and dramatic societies, galas, eisteddfod, parades and rallies.

No information known/available at time of compilation.

This is an artificial collection. The photographs were collected in the South Wales Coalfield History Project, and originally held at the South Wales Miners' Library where they were arranged on a subject basis. Arranged into three subfonds: sports, choirs, drama societies and bands, and parades, rallies, eisteddfod and galas.

Access unrestricted unless stated otherwise.

Finding aid encoded by Julie Anderson March 2003.

An online finding aid is available at http://www.swan.ac.uk/swcc

Digital images of some of the photographs may be viewed at http://www.agor.org.uk/cwm

No publication without written permission from the Archivist.

The photographs are part of the South Wales Coalfield Collection (SWCC), held at Swansea University. SWCC was established in 1969 as an attempt to preserve the documentary records of the mining community of South Wales. At that time over one hundred mines had been closed since nationalisation, more pit closures were threatened and such records were in danger of being destroyed. Fortunately the officers of the National Union of Mineworkers (South Wales Area) were aware of the problem and began the transfer of their non-current records to the Library at University College Swansea while encouraging their constituent lodges to do the same. In 1971 the South Wales Coalfield History Project was set up, funded by the Social Science Research Council, to locate and collect manuscript and printed material of archival significance. Such was the success of the Project which lasted until 1974, that it was followed by a second from 1979-82.