Useful Resources and Archives
Dr Chris Laoutaris
THE SHAKESPEARE INSTITUTE
University of Birmingham
Note: the following information was correct at the time it was compiled. Institutions regularly update their collections and contact information, so if you are unable to locate the databases or resources listed here do search online for the most recent versions.
History of Art: comprehensive collections of artists and their works, sculpture, monuments, interior design and architecture.
The Warburg Institute
Woburn Square
London
WC1E 0AH
Tel: 020 7862 8949
email:
In addition to an extensive picture collection (comprising 300,000 photographs covering material across Europe up to around c.1800) and a subject-indexed reference library, the Warburg Institute provides the Census of Antique Works of Art and Architecture Known to the Renaissance, a computerised database of 25,000 images and 40,000 documents, covering a period up to c.1600. The database pools resources from the Bibliotheca Hertziana in Rome, the Getty Institute for the History of Art and the Humanities, the Humbolt University in Berlin, and the University of Hamburg. The Warburg is now also the home of the CassianoDalPozzo Paper Museum, a collection of 7000 watercolours, drawings and prints assembled in the first half of the seventeenth century, covering botany, zoology, natural history, and archaeology. One of the Warburg’s most recent exciting projects is The Medicine of the Mind and Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England, run by Dr Guido Giglioni, which will focus on Francis Bacon and his relation to the early sciences of the mind.
Courtauld Institute of Art
Somerset House
Strand
London
WC2R ORN
General enquiries: 020 7848 2777
Rights and Reproductions: 020 7848 2879
email:
Witt Library:
email:
020 7848 2743
Comprises the Witt Library (paintings, drawings, prints from 1200 to the present day, mostly filed by artist, century, and school) and the Conway Library (architecture, sculpture, metalwork, illuminated manuscripts, textiles etc.). The Conway Library also houses the offices of the Public Monuments and Sculpture Association; the Corpus of Romanesque Sculpture in Britain and Ireland; and the Photographic Survey of Private Collections (in conjunction with the Frick Art Reference Library in New York), which documents works of art in private collections throughout England, Wales, and Ireland. The Courtauld also has its own separate, well-stocked, Art History Library. A small percentage of the Conway Library’s collection can be viewed at
Westminster Reference Library
35 St Martin’s Street
London
WC2H 7HP
tel: 0207 641 1300
email:
Contains over 40,000 books covering painting, architecture, sculpture, ceramics, textiles, fashion, interiors and gardens, as well as a comprehensive collection of art magazines. 8,000 books are available on open access on the first floor and 5,000 on the second floor.
Royal Academy of Arts Library
Royal Academy of Arts
Burlington House
Piccadilly
London
WIJ 0BD
general enquiries: 020 7300 8000
library and collection information: 020 7300 5737
Picture Library
020 7300 5915
email:
The Library contains the British Art Reference Collection which includes 30,000 monographs, exhibition catalogues, and standard reference books covering the history of art, as well as a Historic Book Collection of 12,000 volumes of works produced up to the early 20th century. The Academy also has a picture library with images taken from paintings, sculpture, prints and drawings, historic book illustration, and 19th-century photography. The Picture Library has a fully-functioning online database that can be searched using keywords and themes.
Heraldry and Genealogy: coats of arms, family trees and genealogical tables, registers for grants of arms, funeral certificates, heraldic art and calligraphy.
The College of Arms
Queen Victoria Street
London
EC4V 4BT
tel: 020 7248 2762
Provides documentation recording the register of grants of arms from 1530 to 1688, with 750 manuscript volumes, including detailed genealogical records. In case you are interested, it also now houses the current ‘Roll of the Peerage’ (for the upwardly mobile among you!). Before visiting, it might be useful to take a look at The Records and Collections of the College of Arms, by Sir Anthony Richard Wagner (1952), for a list of the College’s holdings.
Museums and Galleries: historic collections, picture libraries, useful research facilities.
Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Collections
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
TheShakespeare Centre
Henley Street, Stratford upon Avon
Warwickshire
CV37 6QW
tel: +44 (0)1789 204016
email:
This is the country’s largest collection of material relating to William Shakespeare. It contains the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) Archive as well as the Local History Archive, which provides artefacts and historical documents about Stratford-Upon-Avon and South Warwickshire. It also includes the Museum Collections, comprising over 11,000 objects from the early modern period. You can search the Birthplace Trust’s catalogues at Some of these objects can be seen in the five Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Properties which you can visit. For more information go to
Royal Shakespeare Company Collections
email: .
Another invaluable Shakespeare resource, the RSC collections comprise over 10,000 items dating from the 17th century to the present day. This is the go-to place for performance history, production posters, photographs of historic performances, film and sound recordings, paintings and many many more! You can explore the collections online and there’s also an RSC Performance Database, from which you can search for performances using play titles, actor or character names, or venue of performance. You can view the database through the RSC’s link to their resources (a useful hub!) at:
V&A Images
Victoria and Albert Museum
South Kensington
London
SW7 2RL
tel: 020 7942 2000
(search online collection)
(commercial website)
email:
As well as images of items in its own collection, the V&A Picture Library comprises the collections of the Theatre Museum, the Bethnal Green Museum of Childhood, Apsley House and the National Art Library Archives. It is also home to the National Art Library (accessed via which has a searchable online catalogue. Its collections provide a comprehensive resource for the researching of all aspects of art history, printmaking, and interior design. In addition, the V&A provides The Prints and Drawings Study Room which gives access to 750,000 objects, including posters, postcards, etchings, watercolours and many more! For more on the Study Rooms go to or tel: 020 7942 2563, or email . The V&A’s online collections search is excellent with access to over one million images!
Hyman Kreitman Research Centre
Tate Library and Archive Collections
Tate Britain
Millbank
London
SW1P 4RG
tel: 020 7887 8838
email:
The Hyman Kreitman Research Centre incorporates the Tate Library and Archive Collections and includes exhibition and auction house catalogues as well as research material which supplements the Tate’s vast art collections. The Tate provides a custom print service for issuing of photograph quality images of items in its holdings. The Archive has 100,000 photographs, 2000 posters, and 3000 audio-visual accessories.
The Heinz Archive and Library
National Portrait Gallery
St Martin’s Place
London
WC2H 0HE
tel: 020 7321 6617
email:
The NPG is the home of the Heinz Archive and Library, the primary centre for research into all aspects of British Portraiture. It contains a reference collection of 80,000 portraits, prints and drawings (which is in addition to its photographic archive of well over 500,000 images), an index of portraits and, most usefully, an index of British sitters. Its records are expanding by a staggering 15,000 a year! Crucially, the Heinz archive tracks British portraits, scanning sales catalogues from major auction houses and pooling its recourses from such repositories as the Kent Portrait Survey and Church Monuments Record. It also includes a library of over 35,000 books and unpublished image and index files. An impressive resource.
National Gallery
Trafalgar Square
London
WC2N 5DN
tel: 020 7747 2885
email:
The National Gallery has a fully searchable on-line database of images in its collection. You can search by artist, period, or keyword. Enough said!
The Royal Collection: covers all collections and works of art owned by the royal family, held in the royal palaces and in museums around the country, including portraits, paintings, tapestries, jewellery, china, silverware, furniture, and manuscripts.
Royal Collection Picture Library
Stable Yard House
St James’ Palace
London
SW1A 1JR
tel: 020 7839 1377
The Royal Collection can be searched very effectively online using keyword searches at Searches will bring up stunning images of the objects housed in each of the royal palaces. The ‘Collections’ page also features regularly updated highlights from its collections. Browsing this is a good way to get ideas... Inspirational!
Auction Houses and Specialist Dealers: paintings, fine and contemporary art, entertainment memorabilia, jewellery, rare books, glass, china, sculpture, prints... in fact every kind of artefact you can imagine!
Christie’s Images
1 Langley Lane
Vauxhall
London
SW8 1TH
tel: 020 7582 1282
email:
Sadly their once-open access website is now password protected, but you can still make telephone enquiries.
Sotheby’s Picture Library
34-5 Bond Street
London
W1A 2AA
tel: 020 7293 5383
email:
Images can be searched by theme or object type via their online database.
The Weiss Gallery
59 Jermyn Street
London
SW1Y 6LX
tel: 020 7409 0035
email:
The Weiss Gallery is a specialist resource, dealing in Tudor and Stuart paintings. I highly recommend taking a look at their catalogues for some little-known (and some very well known!) examples of exquisite Renaissance portraiture. The gallery’s owner has quite an accomplished eye!! Some of these images can be viewed online.
Stately Homes: valuable sources of letters, family records, tapestries, needlework costume, interior design, paintings, ceramics, sculpture, domestic articles, architecture, and spaces where literary coteries sometimes gathered and took inspiration. Here are a few examples of repositories I have found useful for early modern studies research (though there are many more!):
Hatfield House
Hatfield
Hertfordshire
AL9 5NQ
general enquiries: 01707 287 010
Hardwick Hall
Doe Lea
Chesterfield
Derbyshire
S44 5QJ
tel: 01246 850 430
Woburn Abbey
Woburn Park
Bedfordshire
MK17 9WA
tel: 01525 290 333
email:
National Trust Photographic Library
36 Queen Anne’s Gate
London
SW1H 9AS
tel: 01793 817 700
email:
The National Trust contains information on all properties under its care in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. They commission many specialist photographers to go out and gather images of interior spaces and artefacts from these invaluable repositories. These could be very useful for recapturing lost buildings and interiors for your biographies! They have a fully searchable database.
Science Collections: history of medicine, anatomy, the body, dissection, medical implements, objects relating to the history of science and invention, childbirth, diseases, natural philosophy, images from medical treatises and manuscripts.
Wellcome Images (The Wellcome Trust Medical Photographic Library) and Library
183 Euston Road
London
NW1 2BE
tel: 020 7611 8348
email:
Wellcome Images has a fabulous online resource of over 250,000 photographs, paintings, prints, and drawings. This is fully searchable online and allows you to navigate the collections with keywords and themes, while also providing useful background information on each image. The WellcomeTrustalso boasts a plush library with over 750,000 books and journals. Altogether a class act!
Science and Society Picture Library
Science Museum
Exhibition Road
London
SW7 2DD
tel: 020 7942 4400
email:
Pools resources from the collections of the Science Museum, National Media Museum, and the National Railway Museum, and represents over one million images, with 50,000 searchable online. It has a dizzying array of photographs showcasing objects from every conceivable arena of the history of science and social interaction. This is the only online picture library I’ve seen which somehow manages to combine functionalism with self-conscious wit. It will all make sense if you visit it... Lots of fun!
Glasgow University Library
Hillhead Street
Glasgow
G12 8QE
Scotland
tel: 0141 330 6704
email:
Glasgow University Library is the home of the Huntarian Collection, mostly consisting of medical books and manuscripts from the Medieval and Renaissance Periods. The library runs a photographic service, reproducing prints from texts and images in its collections. Printed texts and manuscripts can be searched online.
Archaeology: information on sites and finds relating to all aspects of London life from prehistory to the present.
Museum of London Picture Library
Museum of London
London Wall
EC2Y 5HN
tel: 020 7814 5604/5612
(to search for, order, and/or purchase prints)
email:
Some of the picture library’s holdings can be searched online by subject, keyword, and date, allowing access to its repository of 35,000 prints, drawings, site schematics, ancient artefacts, and historic photographs. You can also browse by general period, eg. ‘Tudor (1485-1603)’ etc, or by object type.
London Archaeological Archive and Research Centre (LAARC)
Mortimer Wheeler House
46 Eagle Wharf Road
London
N1 7ED
tel: 020 7566 9319
email:
Part of the Museum of London, this resource can be searched online via ‘sites’, ‘finds’, and ‘publications’. General keywords can also be used (though this is currently generally a less successful means of searching this website). The online catalogue does, however, contain fascinating material drawn from over 7500 archaeological sites and projects in the Greater London area. Go on, get digging!!
Other Resources
Bridgeman Art Library andGetty Images
Valuable online databases which pool resources from museums, galleries, libraries and a broad range of independent companies and photographers from across the globe. The websites are fully searchable by artist, subject, keyword, object type etc, and provide images of, and information on, popular media, major events, antiques, maps, furniture, paintings, glass, ceramics, and anthropological artefacts, held both in public and private collections. All life is here!!
Kunsthistorisches Museum
Mit MVK und OTM
WissenschaftlicheAnstalt
OffentlichenRechts
Reproduktionsabteilung
1010 Wien, Burgring 5
email:
Has an online searchable image database which includes the Collection of Rudolf II, as well as the stunning Ambras Castle Collection. The main building of the museum also houses the Kunsthistoriches Library, which contains 270,000 volumes, 36,000 of which are works dating from the 15th to the 19th centuries, dealing with art and cultural history (email: ).
Museum derBildendenKunste
Grimmaische St. 1-7
D-04109, Leipzig
email:
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