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Library and Archive

The Library will be closed to readers on Wednesday 10th March, due to staff meetings.  Over Easter, the Library will be closed from Wednesday 31st March, and will reopen on Tuesday 13th April.

Introduction

The Library and Archive was formed from the collections of the Huguenot Society and the French Hospital and contains the most complete body of Huguenot literature in this country. Since 1957 it has been housed within UCL Special Collections.

The main focus of the collections is on the history of the Huguenots in Great Britain and Ireland, but the Library holds material on a much wider span of Huguenot-related topics, and covers the history of the Huguenots in France and the wider diaspora. The archives in particular provide an invaluable insight into the lives of the immigrants in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Both the Library and Archive contain significant sources for genealogical research. Please see the family history page for information about the available sources, and guidance on researching Huguenot ancestors. Most of the material covers the period from 1550 to 1750. A list of family papers in the Archive is available on the Archive page.

The library holdings have been catalogued on eUCLid, the UCL Library online catalogue. The catalogues for the archive holdings are not available in electronic form, but the Librarian can answer any queries. The Archive catalogues have been published by the Huguenot Society as part of their Quarto Series and can be consulted in the Library. See the Archive pages for more information.

Other libraries and archives

The Representative Church Body Library in Dublin holds the Irish Huguenot Archive. The Irish Huguenot Archive includes the publications of the Society, and a miscellaneous collection of manuscripts and printed material relating to the Huguenot presence in Ireland. The Huguenot Library in London also contains some material relating to Huguenots in Ireland.

The Société de L'Histoire du Protestantisme Français in Paris has an extensive library and centre for genealogy.

The Walloon Library (Archives Wallonne) is housed within the Special Collections of Leiden University Library, and contains important genealogical resources for Huguenots in the Netherlands. Their archives contain records for most of the Walloon Churches (the French-speaking Reformed churches in the Northern Netherlands), including records of baptisms, marriages and deaths for the period 1575-1811. They also hold correspondence of important personalities in Huguenot history, including Bayle and Jurieu. The postal address is: Archives Wallonne, c/o University Library Leiden, P.O. Box 9501 2300 RA Leiden and the library is located in the University Library, Witte Singel 27, Leiden.

Details of other resources for genealogical research can be found on the family history and resources pages.


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