LATEST NEWS

Our reading room services are suspended until further notice

We will be suspending our reading room service as of Thursday 5 November, in line with the new national restrictions in England. This means that we won’t be releasing seats for future weeks, until the government confirm the end of the current lockdown restrictions. In the meantime, we are taking the opportunity to review the current seat booking system.

We know this will be very disappointing to many and look forward to welcoming visitors again as soon as this is possible.

We will continue to provide access to our collections and services online, including:

Our website, including research guides, blogs, podcasts, learning resources and online exhibitions

Discovery, our online catalogue and digital home of our collections

Online education sessions and resources

Naturalisation certificate requests

Record copying

Online shop

Freedom of Information requests

We will continue to review government guidance and to provide regular updates.

Greater access to online collections

We can confirm that we’re now doubling the monthly limit on downloading free digital records from our website, from 50 to 100.

This service, made free in response to the restrictions earlier in the year, has been very popular with online researchers around the world, with more than 84,000 people downloading around 1.1m documents to date.

Online talks

Our exciting online programme of talks are free for everyone and include a live Q&A with the expert, specialist or guest speaker.

The Victorian (re)invention of Christmas

20 November | 14:00 to 15:00

Cards, crackers and carols are just some of the treasured Christmas traditions that the Victorians invented. Find out how different levels of society celebrated Christmas, in our first festive talk by Katherine Howells.

Charles Dickens at Christmas

27 November | 14:00 to 15:00

Join Frankie Kubicki (Charles Dickens Museum) for this ultimate festive feel-good event, which tells the story of a lost turkey and the amazing circumstances under which Dickens’ most famous book, A Christmas Carol, was written.

Potatoes, plum puddings and peacock: eating with the Victorians at Christmas

4 December | 14:00 to 15:00

Author and food historian, Annie Gray, take us on a tour through the Victorian Christmas tables of the rich, the poor and the doing-just-fines, to show how the Christmas dinner we love (or hate) today came about. You may even pick up some tips for your own festive feast.

Potatoes, plum puddings and peacock: eating with the Victorians at Christmas

9 December | 17:00 to 18:00

A rerun of Annie Gray’s talk which take us on a tour through the Victorian Christmas tables of the rich, the poor and the doing-just-fines, to show how the Christmas dinner we love (or hate) today came about.