Finding your way around the Sutherland Collection website
To help you discover more about the thousands of fascinating documents in the Sutherland Papers, the Sutherland Collection website is divided into different thematic sections reflecting the enormous diversity of this vast archive.
At the top of each page you will see the navigation bar shown below:
This shows the eight thematic sections of the Sutherland Collection website - Places, People, Progress, Estate, Power, Philanthropy, Extraordinary and Articles by Contributors. You can click on any of these to view homepages for each of these themed sections where you can learn more and access documents in the Sutherland Papers.
Below is a description of each of these themes including the topics and types of documents featured in each of them.
Sutherland In Context
The icon on the right appears on a number of pages throughout the Sutherland Collection website. This icon indicates a page or article which provides background information about an aspect of the Sutherland Papers or more detailed contextual information about certain documents in the collection.
Places
The Sutherland Papers contain many documents relating to the Leveson-Gower family’s lands, particularly their estates in Staffordshire. Covering over seven hundred years of history, documents featured here tell us about local life in Staffordshire. Medieval deeds, surveys, maps and plans, correspondence and gifts of land for schools, parks and churches can be found in Places, alongside mining accounts, political papers and advertisements for local events. These documents span the county, from Wolverhampton to Leek, from Eccleshall to Lichfield from the thirteenth to the twentieth centuries.
 Click here to go to the Places homepage
People
The Sutherland Papers contain thousands of documents relating to the lives of the Leveson-Gower family, from the marriage of Richard Leveson of Willenhall in the thirteenth century to the personal papers of Millicent Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, fourth Duchess of Sutherland, who died in 1955. Documents featured in the People section reflect the influence of the family in local and national social, cultural and political life. The wealth and influence of the Leveson-Gower family meant that many ordinary people interacted with them as employees in their households or as tenants on their estates. The People section features a wide variety of letters telling the stories of ordinary people who lived between the sixteenth and the twentieth centuries.
Click here to go to the People homepage
Progress
Throughout the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the Leveson-Gower family played an important role in the progress of industry in Staffordshire and beyond. Documents featured in the Progress section tell us about the family's involvement in the development of canals and railways. From the late seventeenth century onwards the Leveson-Gowers exploited the mineral resources on their estates in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Scotland through coal mining. The Progress section includes pages created by the North Staffordshire Mining History Group who have used their specialist knowledge to interpret documents relating to mining history in the Sutherland Papers. Progress also features documents relating to technological innovations in transport made during the nineteenth century, including bicycles, motorcars, yachts and developments in aeronautical engineering.
Click here to go to the Progress homepage
Estate
Following James Leveson of Wolverhampton's purchase of Trentham Priory and its lands in 1540, the Leveson-Gowers grew in wealth, through marriage, inheritance and the exploitation of their estate, improving and adding to their property in Staffordshire, Kent, Shropshire, London, Yorkshire and Scotland. The Estate section features property deeds, correspondence, inventories and plans telling us about the family’s houses and gardens and the domestic staff employed to manage their households. Volunteers at Staffordshire Record Office have created pages exploring letters exchanged between agents and tenants throughout the nineteenth century, providing a fascinating insight into life on the Sutherland estates in England and Scotland during this period. Pages created by volunteers who have worked with the Sutherland Papers and the Lilleshall Collection at Shropshire Archives also feature in Estate, exploring medieval life in Shropshire and the management of the Scottish estates in the late nineteenth century.
Click here to go to the Estate homepage
Power
The wealth and position of the Leveson-Gowers in Staffordshire society meant that the family were engaged in local politics, occupying influential political roles in Staffordshire. The Power section features many documents providing a fascinating insight into Staffordshire politics during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Power also includes documents relating to the Leveson-Gower's influence on the national stage, from the family's involvement in military preparations during the Armada to their work establishing medical facilities at the outbreak of the First World War. Power features election papers, battle accounts, correspondence and newsletters relating to the Leveson-Gower family's involvment in local politics and national events from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Click here to go to the Power homepage
Philanthropy
As landowners in Staffordshire and Shropshire, the Leveson-Gower family provided land and money for the establishment of public buildings including schools, churches and children’s homes. The Philanthropy section features correspondence, account books, plans and scrapbooks reflecting the family's role as patrons or contributors to many local institutions. Documents relating to the savings banks established at Trentham and Lilleshall also feature, alongside documents relating to the family's involvement in national philanthropic campaigns during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Click here to go to the Philanthropy homepage
Extraordinary
The size and diversity of the Sutherland Papers has led to the discovery of many intriguing documents. In the Extraordinary section we have featured many of the documents that captured our attention during our work with the collection including accounts for Christmas at Trentham Hall in the late seventeenth century and documents telling us about the lives of the Leveson-Gower family pets. Advertisements for clothing, cigarettes, alcohol and chocolates are also included, alongside documents relating to the third Duke of Sutherland’s foreign travels in India, America and Canada during the late nineteenth century.
Click here to go to the Extraordinary homepage
Articles by Contributors
Since the launch of the Sutherland Papers Project we have received support from many people who have contributed research and writing to the Sutherland Collection website. Articles by Contributors features articles written by volunteers, exploring a variety of topics from art history to the development of the canal network, providing fascinating insights into local and national history in the Sutherland Papers.
Click here to go to the Articles by Contributors homepage
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