Keeping Whitby's Stories Alive
A whaling town, a fishing fleet, a jet trade — the people who lived it, remembered out loud.
Support our workOur mission
The town's memory, kept by the people who hold it
Whitby's history doesn't live only in books. It lives in the voices of fishing families, jet workers and harbour folk — and those voices fade if no one writes them down.
We are an independent, member-funded charity working to record, protect and share that heritage. We run walking tours and a free maritime museum on Church Street, we record oral histories, and we bring local schoolchildren face to face with their own town's past.
From the archive
Stories, findings and curiosities drawn from our collections and our community.
'You could cross the harbour on the decks': Edith remembers the herring seasons
An excerpt from our oral history archive: Edith, born 1921, on the Scots fisher lassies, a harbour full of drifters, and the smell of money.
13 July 2026
The whalebone arch: what the whaling years really cost
Everyone photographs the arch on the West Cliff. Fewer people know why jawbones meant good news, or what eighty years of Greenland voyages did to this town.
11 July 2026
Object of the month: Henry Freeman's cork lifejacket
One object, one story: the newfangled cork lifejacket worn by the sole survivor of the 1861 lifeboat disaster — and how it changed sea rescue.
9 July 2026
Ways to help
Every membership, hour and visit keeps the work going.
Become a member
Member subscriptions fund the museum, the recordings and the schools programme — and keep us independent.
Volunteer your time
Lead a tour, steward the museum or help transcribe interviews from our growing oral history archive.
Share your story
If your family worked the boats, the jet or the harbour, we'd love to record your memories before they're lost.
Help us record the next 400 stories
We've captured over 400 oral histories since 2008. Your gift pays for recording, transcription and the free museum that keeps them within reach of everyone in Whitby.