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Address Aldermanbury, London EC2V 7HH, UK Hours Closed today SaturdayClosedSundayClosedMonday9:30AM–5PMTuesday9:30AM–5PMWednesday9:30AM–7:30PMThursday9:30AM–5PMFriday9:30AM–5PM Profiles | ||
Guildhall library the library of london history
The Guildhall Library is administered by the Corporation of London, the government of the City of London, which is the historical heart of London, England.
Contents
Damian lewis reads sonnets at guildhall library
Founding
The library was founded in the 1420s under the terms of the will of Lord Mayor Dick Whittington.
War damage
Many volumes in store rooms were lost due to bombing in World War Two. The library was originally housed in the Old Library at the Guildhall, and moved to modern premises elsewhere in the Guildhall complex in the 1970s.
Services
The library is a public reference library and specialises in subjects relevant to London. The collection has its greatest depth on topics specifically concerned with the City, but also contains a great deal of material on the other parts of metropolitan London. It is divided into three main sections: printed books; manuscripts; and prints, maps and drawings. The material dates from the eleventh century onwards.
Notable librarians
William Herbert was elected librarian of the Guildhall Library, which had been recently re-established by the Corporation of London, in 1828. He prepared a second edition of the catalogue in 1840, and retired in 1845.
David Pearson has been Director of Libraries, Archives in the City of London since 2009. His brief also includes London Metropolitan Archives, City Business Library and Guildhall Art Gallery.
Holdings
There are specialist book collections on the following subjects:
The local history collections are not restricted to London but cover the whole of the British Isles. In addition to complete sets of the Victoria County History of England volumes and Nikolaus Pevsner's Buildings of England, the library holds a collection of county, town and village histories, and also holds journals and other publications of many local history and archaeological societies.