The origins of Northumberland’s Local Reference Collection

20 May 2021 ARCHIVED (over 3 months old) - view latest news

Safely tucked away within Northumberland Archives is the county’s Local Reference Collection. This is the core collection of local reference stock. There are over 12000 books in the collection, some of which are very rare, and the county holds only a single copy.

The Archives has been home to the collection since 2005 and it is the ideal environment for the safety of the collection from a preservation perspective. The books are stored in a controlled climate – with the temperature and humidity kept at an optimum level. This is particularly beneficial to the older books in the collection some of which date back to the early 18th Century.

But where did the wonderful old books in this collection come from? Northumberland County Council adopted the Public Libraries Act in August 1924. The initial focus was on developing the service in the rural areas but as the demand for books grew branch libraries were established in the urban areas too. Reference sections were part of the service and local history would have initially fallen into this category. Over time a dedicated local history collection developed.

And what of the books prior to 1924? The older books in the collection from the early 18th century pre-date the county library service by over two hundred years. Here the bookplates in the older books give us a clue as to their former owners. These books would have been donated to the library service from private collections.

Another source of donations would have been from the former Mechanics and Mining Institutes. In the 18th and 19th centuries books were a luxury and only the wealthy could afford to regularly purchase copies. But the popularity of books and the desire to access them grew and to provide for this demand subscription libraries in one form or another started.

So due to a variety of generous donations we are fortunate to have a considerable collection of books from the 18th and 19th centuries. It is worth noting that the book trade in the north east during this time was booming, and in no small part due to the talents and fame of Thomas Bewick. We are very fortunate to have a large selection of Bewick books in our collection either printed by Bewick himself or featuring his woodcuts. This past year two of these titles formed part of a very exciting collaboration between ourselves and a project called Unlocking the Archive. Several of our historic books were selected to be digitised and annotated on the project's website. You can view the result by visiting Unlocking the Archives website.

Copies of some of the titles in our core reference collection are available in our branch libraries. The older, rarer titles can be accessed through the search room at Northumberland Archives. Visit the library website for more information.