The London Library Archive
The London Library Archive collects, preserves and provides access to the Library’s archival collections, documenting the institution’s history from its origins in 1840 to the present day.
The archive includes founding documents, committee minutes, correspondence, membership records, photographs, ephemera and working papers that reveal the story of the Library and the readers, writers and thinkers connected to it from its beginnings to the present day.
Holdings include materials associated with historical figures such as Arthur Conan Doyle, William Gladstone MP, John Murray, George Frederick Watts, John Stuart Mill, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Virginia Woolf, William Makepeace Thackeray, and Mary Elizabeth Braddon, alongside records that illuminate the Library’s role in literary and cultural life throughout history.
The Digital Archive
You can explore digitised membership records through the Library’s Digital Archive.
This gives access to more than 70,000 historical London Library membership records dating from 1841–1950, revealing unexpected connections and previously unknown members from across the Library’s history.
Request an appointment with the Archivist
Researchers can access archive materials by appointment with the Archivist in the dedicated Archive & Research Room, located next to the Times Room.
To view any archive or safe material please request your invigilation using the contact form below.