The catalogue of the St.Helens Local History and Archives Library amounts to about 2,000,000 items, and provides a unique reflection of most of the political and social trends of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, while also pinpointing some of the significant aspects of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

The catalogue includes the historic records of:

• St. Helens Borough Council and some of its old constituent authorities e.g. the Urban Districts of Billinge and Winstanley (part), Bold (part), Eccleston (part), Haydock, Newton-le Willows, Parr, Rainford, Rainhill, Sutton and Windle
• several local business archives
• family estate papers
• local history collections of books, pamphlets, local newspapers, maps and photographs
• there are also extensive genealogical records of a local,national and international nature

As the archive is primarily a repository for the local authority records of St.Helens Borough Council and its predecessor authorities, over 50% of the stock is of a local government nature. Even so the collections reflect some of the following:

• the huge changes in legislation and daily life in this country
• international events as they affected the lives of local people
• major political and social movements
• environmental and health issues

St.Helens Local History and Archives Library hold nearly 9,000 books on local and regional history which are a vital tool in assisting readers in the interpretation of the primary sources available in the archives and collections.