I think one of the mist interesting places we visited for the British Studies Program was the British Museum Archives. One reason why I think this is because the museums central archives is located in their gorgeous reading room. Usually when we visit an archives I am used to the storage location being in a basement, or warehouse type room. Instead, since there was a huge mold problem in their original storage space in the basement, they had to improvise and move everything to the reading room. This is not ideal, since it is difficult to maintain a stable environment. Regardless the reading room is impressive and at first sight it is truly breathtaking with its large dome, and simple yet beautiful design.
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| This is the main lobby area of the museum, the door to the reading room is at the center. |
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| What the reading room looks like now. |
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| Old photograph of the reading room. |
The British Museum library and archives hold over 300,000 items that date back to the founding of the museum in 1753. The central archive hold administrative documents like information on the trustees, financial documents, policy records and more. While each curatorial department keep and maintain their own records. Some of the really captivating items that we were shown include some log books with Carl Marx's signature! The records show that Marx was a regular visitor of the library for around 30 years. The signature in the image below is the fourth from the top.
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| Old log book with Carl Marx's signature. |
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| Administrative records. |
Overall, my visit to the British Museum Archives was interesting. They have a unique situation with their archives located in the reading room. After our tour we were able to see everything else that the museum has to offer. For instance, they have a really impressive Egyptian collection that is a must see!
Source:
https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/libraries_and_archives.aspx
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