Family History Library and Collections
The collection has been formed to assist the tutorial staff of The Institute and to supplement and support the work of both professional and amateur genealogists and heraldists and students, along with those involved in the applications of these subjects. The policy of the library is to acquire source material that may be of assistance to them in the study of the history and structure of the family. Visitors wishing to use the library should not come with the express hope of discovering their ancestors in one place. Visitors should be prepared to use the library as a step on their journey: to discover what work has been done before, to localise possible origins and to examine the various indexes and guides which are available to assist them in their work. Researchers undertaking a one-name study will find the collections here especially helpful. Once proper foundations have been laid researchers may find themselves in a better position to turn to record offices or to use the sources of a more specialist nature in the library. The indexes are of particular importance. They relate to sources referred to in journals and other collections as well as to abstractions from original material for Kent, Sussex, Hampshire, London and other counties. Library opening hours are 10:00 – 4:30 pm. IHGS members have access to the library at £2 per session or £3 per day. The rate for non-members is £12.50 a day or £8.75 per half day. Since space in the library is limited, all members and visitors must make an appointment with the librarian so that it can be ensured that there is enough room for all who so wish to work without interruption or discomfort.. For more information, please contact the Librarian on (01227 768664) or via our Contact page. A brief summary of the library collection includes the following material:
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  The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies |
The library of The Institute is housed in some six rooms in the building that dates largely from the thirteenth and sixteenth centuries. It has grown around the personal collections of its founder and first Trustee, Cecil Humphery-Smith, and from other donations and purchases, into an extensive working library. Now consisting of nearly thirty thousand items, much of the collection is unique. It has expanded over the years, now running the full length of the first floor, and occupying passages, and the walls of the lecture hall. It has many finding aids and text books outlining which records may be of beneficial use and where they may be found, rather than original records and transcripts. However, some transcripts of records have been deposited in the library over the years.