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The Girls' School has produced a variety of magazines over the last 120 years. The earliest, The Hulme Victorian, was published from probably 1896 to 1905; we do not have copies of the first two issues. These early publications were quarto-sized with eight sides of school notes and articles. From 1901 a smaller format was used, the length increased, and further information such as successes at public examinations and details of girls who had gained entrance to university or college was included. Publication ceased in 1905 after 18 issues.
The Girls' School Chronicle first appeared during or before 1908; while this is the earliest edition in our archive, it would appear not to be the first in the series. Being similar in content to The Hulme Victorian, it was probably published annually and extended to 28 pages. We also hold copies dated 1912 and 1912 - 1913.
The next issue of the Girls' School Chronicle held by the archive is dated June 1925 when the main item of interest was the opening of the new girls' school. Containing 28 pages it included more information on sports but otherwise consisted in the main part of articles and letters. It continued to appear annually until 1934.
In 1935 The Girls' School Chronicle became the Girls' School Magazine and continued, in a similar format, to be published annually until 1940. Wartime issues for 1941, 1943 and 1944 were handwritten; these were presumably available in the library for any girl who wanted to read them. Normal publication resumed in 1947 and continued until 1970 when it again appears to have changed title to Opus.
Alongside these various magazines, The Record of the Old Girls' Association was published from 1911 to 2008. The Old Girls' Association was formed in 1899; it was extremely successful, meeting twice a year, but it became apparent that many old-girls who no longer lived in Oldham wanted to keep in touch with the school and their peers. This led to the annual publication of The Record. Unlike the other girls' school magazines, the emphasis was on enabling old-girls to keep in touch, not only with what was happening at school, but also with each other. With a wealth of information for researchers of family history, it included details of those girls at school who were soon to become old-girls, births, deaths and marriages of old-girls and their families, a complete list of members with, from 1923, their address, and a few letters and articles.
In 1912 the editor asked old-girls to send photographs of their children, not for publication but for her own collection. This scrapbook, which continued until the early 1920s and includes numerous photographs, many from old-girls bringing up their families in other parts of the world, now resides in our archive.
Copies of all magazines mentioned are held in our archive and, during 2016, issues prior to 1960 were scanned. During 2017 we will be preparing these, in batches, for publication on this website.