| Description | This collection is in majority a digital repository for the physical Littlewoods archive held at the National Football Museum Research Centre in Preston. It captures the rich working experience of the Littlewoods company, consisting of: photographs; correspondence; business papers; marketing paraphernalia associated with the company including pools coupons, mail-order catalogues, magazines, and other advertising and promotional material; and objects including garments, signs, and audiovisual material. As part of the Littlewoods Heritage Project, oral histories with former employees and community members were also recorded.
Please be advised that this collection includes evidence of offensive and discriminatory language, imagery, terminology (including racism, sexism, and misogyny). These materials are contextual to the time in which they were produced, and in order to preserve access for search functionality and research purposes, some uncensored outdated and offensive language will be retained within item-level descriptions and within digital reproductions. For more information, or suggestions to improve these catalogue descriptions, please contact archives@ljmu.ac.uk. |
| AdminHistory | Littlewoods was an iconic British brand created by Sir John Moores and his brother Cecil. From the humble beginnings of the Football Pools to the evolution of mail order catalogues and retail stores, Littlewoods became a household name and a national institution, employing a workforce of mainly women. At its peak, over 30,000 employees worked for the company.
The family-led business was also renowned for looking after their employees - not only did they pay the best wage in Liverpool, but ‘Littlewoodies’ were also treated to day trips and given the chance to join in-house sports teams, choirs and amateur dramatic groups, in addition to the annual beauty pageant where employees competed for the coveted title of ‘Miss Littlewood.' The competition took place once a year between twelve different parts of the organisation across the country, with twelve girls representing their respective stores, pools buildings, or mill. After interviews and a few days of training, they each took part in a show at the Empire Theatre where the Miss Littlewood for that year would be elected.
Liverpool's most prominent art deco building was built in 1938 on Edge Lane (known as the Littlewoods Pools building) which became the headquarters for Littlewoods, housing a giant printing press which sent millions of coupons across the country every week. During the Second World War, Littlewoods buildings were commandeered to make barrage balloons and Halifax bombers and the women were repurposed for the wartime effort. The Littlewoods Pools building became the home of the government's postal censorship department whilst its printing presses were being used to print National Registration cards.
Littlewoods was amongst the key retailers for consumers to buy their essential items, the emergence of the Littlewoods shopping catalogues changed the retail spaces allowing for easier purchases for the customer. With the rise of automation, they were one of the first companies in the UK to introduce IBM computers.
In 2002, the Moores family sold the catalogue business to the Barclay Brothers and later merged with Kays Catalogues to create the Shop Direct Group. As of 2019, Littlewoods's retail company can now be found under Very.com, a multi-brand online retail group. In 2018, Capital & Centric LTD announced that the famous Littlewood Pools building on Edge Lane will consist of a new film studio predicted to become 'Hollywood of the North.' |
| CustodialHistory | The digital repository hosted at LJMU Special Collections & Archives was the result of the Littlewoods Heritage Project, an intergenerational community project involving academics, students, artists, school children, and former employees of Littlewoods. As part of the project, the physical items based at the National Football Museum Research Centre, Preston were catalogued and digitised to improve access and research use. This catalogue launched on 14 June 2023 to mark the centenary year of Littlewoods, coinciding with the bicentenary celebrations of Liverpool John Moores University.
This project was made possible through funding from Heritage Lottery and Liverpool John Moores University in association with The National Football Museum, Metal and The Football Pools. The Littlewoods Digital Archive was made possible by LJMU student interns who recorded oral history interviews and digitised and catalogued material from the physical Littlewoods collection that is held at the National Football Museum in Preston.
As a result of the above digital project, we have also received many kind donations from members of the public of physical material related to Littlewoods. |