The archive of Eric Hardwicke Rideout was collected during the late 1920s and early 30s. Rideout was interested in the Shipping Ports of the North West during the period 1700-1850, especially in terms of Customs and Excise and related topics such as trade and quarantine.

The main areas of research for Rideout were: the Ports of Liverpool, Chester, Poulton, Isle of Man, and Whitehaven; their Customs Houses, Trade, Quays, and Quarantine regulations. The archive also contains material relating to Rideout MA thesis, submitted to the University of Liverpool in 1931, on Navigation Law in the 18th Century.

Much of Rideout's research was done at various Customs Houses in the North West with a huge body of transcriptions being made from the Customs Letter Books of the various Customs Houses. These recorded the day-to-day activities of the Houses and the events of the port. The archive is littered with these transcripts, both typescript and manuscript but the majority are based upon Rideout's original transcripts which, recorded onto index cards, are gathered at Rideout II.2.

Also of use will be a file of letters located at Rideout I.6 which includes his correspondence with various individuals concerning his research, visits to various Customs Houses and correspondence concerning the publishing of his findings.