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 Oliver Millar

A collection of approximately 400 books and guides on seventeenth-century painting from the collection of the late Sir Oliver Millar, 1923-2007 were donated by his family in 2007. The collection contains many country house guidebooks, books on artists such as Van Dyck as well as a number of antiquarian books. Part of this collection is kept in the Library Special Collections under the classmark ‘RARE’.

This collection has been fully catalogued on our library and photographic archive catalogue.

The Centre also holds material from Millar's archive.

Sir Oliver Nicholas Millar (1923-2007) was an art historian and curator. He served in the Royal Household from 1947 becoming Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures (1972-1988). His specialism was 17th century British painting.