CENTRE FOR REGIONAL AND LOCAL HISTORY LIBRARY

The Centre for Regional and Local History Resource Centres are located in the Attenborough Building on the University of Leicester Main Campus.

Members of the Friends are welcome to use the library collections and other facilities.

Visiting the Libraries

Members of the Friends are welcome to use these facilities during office hours

To make sure there will be someone to let you into the Resource Centres, you will need to provide advance notice of your visit. Please contact Angela Muir, Richard Jones or libraryrequests@englishlocalhistory.org

The library collections are provided on a ‘Reference Only’ basis and we ask that you do not take books or other material out of the rooms. If you wish to consult specific books, journals or other resources, you are advised to check the library catalogue in advance to avoid an unnecessary trip.

The ‘live’ library catalogue is hosted on the University’s IT domain and is regularly updated as we work to capture uncatalogued material and enhance incomplete entries.

At this time, the catalogue is held as an Excel file. Friends are welcome to request a dated download of the catalogue for their personal use by emailing a request to libraryrequests@englishlocalhistory.org

Library Collections and Facilities

Room 802

Room 802 contains the library collections previously held in the Reading Room at Marc Fitch House.

Subjects covered include: Palaeography; Historical Reference and Sources; General History and Social/Economic History; Parliamentary and Legal history; Religious History and Education; Historical Sociology; Popular Culture; Art and Architecture.

The room also contains regional and local history journals not freely available online; Harleian Society, British Record Society and other major series; and “Featured Collections” from the stores.

There are several workspaces adjacent to power supplies to plug in laptops.

Amazing view from every window.

Gents’ toilets are available on the 8th floor, Ladies’ on the 7th.

Step-free access via the Ground Floor entrance to the Tower lift must be arranged in advanced with a member of staff.

Room 101

Room 101 holds the library collections previously located in the Topographical Library at Marc Fitch House and a selection of the maps and books from the 1st floor Map Rooms.

Subjects covered include: Guides, Atlases; Historiography; Cartography; Place names; Personal names; History of the Landscape; Rural History; Communications; and the County Collections.

Maps include major OS series folded maps; large-scale county maps, and atlases.

A few workspaces are adjacent to power supplies to plug in laptops.

There is audio-visual equipment for seminars and presentations.

Toilets are located on the Ground Floor of the Seminar Block.

Step-free access is via the lift from the Ground Floor – this is located to the left of the entry to the Attenborough Building.

The room may be available for meetings of organisations which support the Centre’s objectives – please contact Richard Jones or Angela Muir to discuss.

Store Rooms

The following collections are in storage and are not currently accessible. We are working to make these available and will update this page periodically.

  • Trade directories.
  • Monographs on Heraldry and Pedigrees.
  • Pamphlets and ephemera collections including the parish church histories collection are available via Dr. Richard Jones.
  • Theses and dissertations – PhD theses are freely available at https://elhleics.omeks.net/
    MA English Local History dissertations are available via Dr. Angela Muir.
  • Modern and antiquarian maps; OS maps (sheet and folded).

Digital Resources

At the end of March 2023 Library and Learning Services at the University of Leicester launched ‘Views of England and Wales‘, the latest collection to be added to Special Collections Online. It is the culmination of a project to digitise over 2,000 prints, paintings, drawings and photographs belonging to the Centre for Regional and Local History. For many years, this extensive collection sat in a big wooden chest of drawers at Marc Fitch House, walked past every day, its contents unknown to most and rarely viewed. After many months of work, it is now fully accessible online and searchable

For further information or for access to original slides, photographic prints and topographical prints please contact Richard Jones