The collection consists of personal papers relating to the employment of three generations of the Whitelegg family at Linotype & Machinery, and includes a staff identity card, apprenticeship certificates, production notebooks, trade union membership cards and photographs showing various departments in the company. The photographs consist of official staff photographs, informal photographs of staff on outings, official photographs of staff at work and products, and informal photographs of staff at work.

Publisher Joseph Lawrence established The Linotype Company in 1889 in central Manchester. The company grew rapidly and moved to purpose built premises in Broadheath, Altrincham in 1898. The company built Linotype type-setting machines under licence from the Merganthaler Linotype Company. The machines helped to increase the speed and output of newspaper production, and were the word processors of their day.