Archives & Library
Library Collections
The library collections cover British painting, sculpture, drawing, prints, decorative arts, architecture and garden history from the medieval period to the present day. The collections on British artists and architects, the British and Irish country house and the eighteenth-century Grand Tour are particularly strong.
Sir Howard Colvin
In 2008, the late Sir Howard Colvin bequeathed a collection of PhD theses, annotated copies of his different additions of his Dictionary of British Architects (now transferred to the archive) and a collection of modern country house guides. The papers that were found filed into the books have been catalogued in the Centre’s archive.
This collection has been fully catalogued on our library and photographic archive catalogue.
Late 19th century and early 20th century country house guidebooks from the Howard Colvin bequest, 2008
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin (1919-2007) was an architectural historian and lecturer at Oxford University, best known for his 'Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840' (1954 & subsequent editions).