[1] Created in 1974 under the former Cleveland County Council an archivist was appointed and a desk provided on the balcony of Middlesbrough’s Reference Library but there was no space for storage of archive material.
81 Borough Road, a house owned by Middlesbrough Council, was chosen as the base for the service (then known as Cleveland County Archives) but it’s limited space for storage meant that it wasn’t a long term solution.
By 1984, there were 5 out-stores attached to branch libraries across the county as well as the Borough Road premises which housed the small searchroom.
A much improved and enlarged searchroom enabled the service to accommodate more visitors and be able to cope with ad-hoc users as well as those that had pre-booked.
The service eventually outgrew Exchange House and is now temporarily operating from the Dorman Museum where a smaller Searchroom and a well equipped Conservation studio have been set up.