17 February 2026 · Research · Dr Oliver Greene, Department of History
The Department of History at Luma University has completed a two-year project to digitise more than 12,000 items from the West Midlands Industrial Archive, making photographs, trade union records, factory floor plans and oral history recordings freely accessible through a dedicated online portal. The project received funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and support from local history societies across the region.
Led by Dr Oliver Greene and archivist Margaret Hollis, the team catalogued materials spanning 1840 to 1980, covering industries including coal mining, ceramics, chain-making and automotive manufacturing. Many items were donated by former workers and their families during community collection events held in Luma, Dudley and Wolverhampton.
"The archive captures the voices of ordinary working people whose stories are often absent from official records," Dr Greene explained. "A chain-maker's diary from 1892, photographs of women munitions workers during the Second World War, and recordings of miners describing the 1984 strike—these materials are invaluable for researchers, teachers and community groups."
The digital portal includes curriculum resources for secondary schools and a series of public lectures scheduled for spring 2026. PhD student James O'Connor contributed a thematic exhibition on housing conditions in interwar Luma, drawing on sanitary inspector reports discovered during cataloguing.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Margaret Chen described the project as exemplifying the university's civic mission. "Luma exists because this region needed educated citizens to power its industries. Preserving and sharing this heritage honours that legacy," she said at the launch event held in the Sir Gerald Ashworth Library.