In 1879, the Justices obtained an Act of Parliament allowing them to build offices for "county business".

In November 1940, the Master of the Rolls recognised the Lancashire Record Office as a manorial repository.

[1] Lancashire County Council appointed Reginald Sharpe France as the first County Archivist; from 1947 he also taught on the Diploma in Archive Administration at the University of Liverpool, establishing a link between the record office and the university.

Due to World War II, there were almost no enquiries for documents or searchers – only 66 visitors are recorded in 1940, and 90 in 1941.

[6] However, in October 1966 minutes of the County Records Sub-Committee noted the need for more accommodation – the strongrooms were likely to fill up in a year.

An independent organisation and registered charity, the FLA was set up to promote and support the archives.

The FLA put on activities for members, including talks and training opportunities, as well as walks and social events.

[11] Later on, in 1989, the Lancashire County Council gave the archives a go-ahead to introduce computers into their work.

A location index was available on computers, and the issuing and returning of documents in the search room was much quicker.