A new 21st century home for our historic archive

In 2023, the Company of Merchant Adventurers and the Borthwick Institute for Archives at the University of York entered into a partnership where the Company’s archive; one of the oldest and most significant collections of documents in the city would move from the Hall to its new home at the Borthwick. 

The archives of the Company of Merchant Adventurers of the City of York have for the last seven centuries been stored in the medieval surroundings of the Hall. Due to its age and importance, the archive needed to be kept in environmentally stable and secure surroundings, and to be accessible to the many researchers wishing to use it. Although in excellent condition, the Hall’s age and lack of storage meant that these challenges were becoming increasingly difficult to meet. Our partnership with the Borthwick Institute will provide a safe, secure and most importantly accessible location for our important archives to be studied and researched.

Our archive includes Royal Charters and Grant of Arms, Minutes and Ordinances, records of membership, correspondence and trade papers.  financial records and guild account rolls, deeds and papers relating to the acquisition of the Company’s estate, records relating to the Merchant Adventurers’ Hall and grounds and records of the York Residence of the Merchant Adventurers of England, Eastland Company, and Company of Porters.

The archive is now fully available online by clicking on the link here.

For information including accessing the archives for research, please click the link here.