All books, printed materials and online resources are free to look at within the reference library.
General Materials
- Business Directories
- Yearbooks
- Maps
- Encyclopaedias
- Dictionaries
- A comprehensive reference library on all subjects
Regional, Local and Family History resources
Birkenhead Reference Library holds a wealth of textbooks and resources on regional, local and family history most of which is searchable via the online catalogue.
Find My Past, 1921 Census and British Newspaper Archive
Available online via any public computer in any library and Hublet tablet.
Wirral Photo Archive
Our photo archive contains 24,000 images, which can be viewed on request at the counter and purchased.
For individual use, copies of our photographs cost: £6.00 for up to 5 images and £2.00 per image above 5.
For corporate use please see staff for current charges.
New additions to our collection are welcome. We can scan and return the originals.
Local and Specialist Materials
- Birkenhead History Society newsletter - issues available from 1974 to 2019
- Cemetery Records (on microfilm*)
- National Census returns (online)
- Local Census Returns (1841-1901 on microfilm or fiche*) and 1939 register (online)
- Council Proceedings from 1880 to 2002
- Electoral Registers from 1862 to date
- Local and family history resources
- Local newspaper archive (microfilm* from 1862 to June 2012)
- Maps - Ordnance Survey, tithe and Goad 1577-2006 and other miscellaneous local reference maps
- Monumental inscriptions and rolls of honour
- Phone directories
- Parish Records (printed and on microfilm*)
- Trade directories - a range of dates held from 1750s to 1970s
- 1904 Wirral Photographic Survey – digital
Magazines and Journals
- The Cheshire Ancestor - journal of the Family History Society of Cheshire (1987 to present)
- Lancashire Parish Register Society. Hard copy index available for Wirral articles. View the full index online
- Record Society of Lancashire and Cheshire. View the index online
- Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire
*For information on microfilm and microfiche there is a charge of £1.30 per day for use of the machines & £1.40 to print from them.
Wirral Remembers 1914-2014
Find out about Wirral Remembers materials held in Birkenhead Library