Sandwell Council’s archives service is celebrating receiving £49,055 of funding as part of The National Archives ‘Archives Revealed’ grant programme to catalogue the Chance Brothers Limited collection.

The collection represents a historic point in time when the production of glass from the Spon Lane factory in Smethwick had a significant local and international impact.

One of the glassworks’ most famous projects involved supplying the 84,000 square metres of sheet glass for the 1851 Great Exhibition and the Crystal Palace built in Hyde Park, London.

Sandwell Council Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods and Community, Councillor Suzanne Hartwell said: “Sandwell is rightly proud of our industrial past including the world-famous Chance Brothers Glassworks.

“This funding will enable our archives service to preserve more of our history for future generations to learn from. I want Sandwell residents of all ages to come to our archives and experience their rich heritage.”

With thanks to Pilkington Group PGL, the Sandwell Archives team will be working alongside Sandwell Museums, Sandwell Libraries and partners including Chance Heritage Trust to increase access and engagement to this fantastic collection.

The Sandwell Archives team is hard at work cataloguing the collection and one third is already available for people to view. The team hopes to have the entire collection catalogued by 2026.

The team will continue to provide updates as it progresses with the project as well as announcing a series of exciting workshops, events, exhibitions and talks throughout the year giving the public the chance to get hands on and be inspired by the collection.

Anyone interested in searching through the collection can visit blackcountryhistory.org and search for the keyword ‘Chance’.