Introducing the Library

Please note Over the next few weeks, it is possible that the Library may be closed at short notice. If you are travelling some distance, then please check the Blog on the home page of the website, or telephone in advance.

The Library at Wiltshire Heritage Museum, which has been growing for over one hundred and fifty years, contains much rare and unique material, such as the 1628 illuminated copy of the Devizes charters, seventeenth-century Civil War pamphlets and original Fox-Talbot negatives and photographs.

We welcome visitors to the Library, and you now search our Library online using Google Books.. The document and manuscript collection is fully catalogued and can be searched as part of our collections database.

Using these sources, you can find out about the comprehensive collection, which includes manuscripts, maps, newspapers, sale catalogues, postcards, works by Wiltshire authors such as John Aubrey and Richard Jefferies, and biographies and portraits of Wiltshire people.

For the family historian there are pedigrees, directories and transcriptions of parish records and monumental inscriptions, while local historians will delight in a large collection of poll books, election broadsheets, parish histories, news cuttings and photographs. The Library also holds an extensive collection of newspapers, including the 'Devizes Gazette'.

An essential source for archaeologists, the Library contains the manuscripts and works of William Stukeley, William Cunnington, Sir Richard Colt Hoare and John Britton, an extensive journal collection, aerial photographs and reports of major Wiltshire excavations.

In fact the range and breadth of the collections has been commented on by many visitors – 'That's what I call a real Library'.

The Library is open to all visitors and the Museum admission fee of £4 (£3 concessions) includes access to the Library (except on Sundays and Mondays when the Library is closed).
If you are carrying out more lengthy research a Library Pass is available at a cost of £12 (£9 concessions). This entitles the holder to four visits to the Library. Alternatively membership of WANHS costs from £33.50 per year. Contact the Museum reception for further information.

The Library is located on the first floor of the Museum buildings, but the Librarian will bring materials down to the ground floor by prior arrangement.

Researchers at all levels, from academics to schoolchildren, are very welcome. The staff are happy to answer queries sent by post, e-mail or over the telephone. More detailed research can be carried out at a cost of £15.00 (plus VAT) per hour. The Librarian, an experienced history teacher, is also happy to accommodate small groups and local history groups as well as life long learners, by prior arrangement.

click here to send an e-mail to the library.