South Tyneside History
The Kelly Collection is an archive of printed materials amassed by local printer, stationer and bookseller Richard Mewburn Kelly (1805-1887) who had his shop at 2 Market Place, South Shields. The collection contains posters, notices, business cards and other printed documents produced by Kelly himself and by other local printers including G. W Barnes to whom he was apprenticed. The collection was presented to South Shields Public Library in 1874 by his fellow printer and successor Henry Hewison. The collection is an important record of the social, cultural, political and industrial history of South Shields in the nineteenth century, a key period in the development of the town. The items shown here are a small part of the collection. We are continuing work to digitise the collection to make it available to a wider audience.
