The �45,000 will be used to put into electronic form 9,400 pages of catalogues which contain details of material held in the region.

Researchers will be guided as to where to find such things as company ledgers, advertising material and photographs.

Archives held in Yorkshire reflect its industrial development and contain material from firms big and small.

Hidden away

The project forms part of a national initiative called Access to Archives (A2A) which aims to make information about archive collections all over England available through a single website.

Martin Wood from West Yorkshire Joint Services, which runs the Yorkshire archives, said: "Archives of business and industry have been hidden away for far too long.

"We are very grateful to the HLF for helping us to start opening them up for everyone."