A WEBSITE showing historic images of the iron and steel industry on Teesside received more than 600 hits in two days of going live.

The British Steel Archive Project, based at Teesside University, aims to catalogue, preserve and engage the public with the British Steel Collection.

It is an extensive collection of photographs, maps, ledgers, deeds and other documents about the iron and steel industries on Teesside.

Several hundred photographs from the collection, which is held at Teesside Archives in Middlesbrough, have been digitised and can now be viewed through the project’s website. Hundreds more will be uploaded in the coming months.

The online gallery allows viewers to leave comments or provide additional information about any of the pictures on the site.

Dr Joan Heggie, project manager, said: “There is a really wide audience, from current and former iron and steel workers and their families, to students, researchers and local historians, each with their own specific area of interest in the collection.”

She said it was much more than a collection of business by Mike Bridgen mike.bridgen@dst.co.uk records. “It also provides insight into that moment in time, such as how a business operated and who they employed. It’s a slice of history of which people are so very rightly proud.”

Dr Heggie said they were working with schools and holding workshops in museums and galleries with activities for families and children. They are keen to hear from engineers who would be interested in helping school projects.

She said: “We’ve achieved a tremendous amount already, but to make the project even more successful, we need help from corporate and public donations and sponsorship.

“Our aim is to digitise as many of the important and much larger documents in the collection as we can, such as the Sydney Harbour Bridge blueprints, but that will cost a lot of money – money which we still have to raise.

“The collection contains items of international interest and could even help to attract companies here by highlighting and promoting the skills for which this region is famous.”

Anyone interested in the collection and project can contact 01642-384478.

The collection can be viewed at www.britishsteelcollection.org.uk.