Catholic National Library Papers

---

Introduction

	About the creator
	Contents
	Arrangement
	Bibliography

---

Catalogue

• 1. Trustees’ Papers
• 2. Financial Papers
• 3. Library Management Papers
• 4. Membership Records
• 5. Publicity and Fundraising Papers
• 6. Historical Material
• 7. Publications
• 8. Objects
• 9. Papers of Patricia van der Valk

---

---

About the creator

Until its closure in June 2014, the Catholic National Library was a major theological and historical reference and lending library containing over 70,000 books, periodicals and pamphlets. It was founded in 1912 from the private library collection of an American philanthropist, William Reed-Lewis, whose aim was to educate the Catholic laity. Originally located in the porch of the Catholic Church in Bexhill-on-Sea, it moved to Victoria, London, in 1922, and was then established as the Catholic Central Library in 1936. In July 1959, the Friars of the Atonement took over the management of the Library. In 1997, its premises were sold off and the library was threatened with closure. Plans were in place to split the collection between Allen Hall and Heythrop before a concerted fundraising campaign led by Catholic noblemen including Lord Longford and Lord Alton, novelists including Alice Thomas Ellis and Piers Paul Read, as well as Cardinal Basil Hume, ensured its survival, with the collection moving to Lancing Street, London, to be run by a newly-created Board of Trustees. The Trust received significant financial support from the Diocese of Westminster, the late Sir John Paul Getty, the Theodore Trust, and the Diana Forty Memorial Trust, as well as other charitable institutions and private individuals, and was staffed by one paid librarian and numerous volunteers. In 2007, the organisation changed its name to the Catholic National Library, moving to St Michael's Abbey, Farnborough. Owing to financial pressure, the Library closed in June 2014 and its collection was transferred to Durham University Library in the following year.

---

Contents

The archives of the Catholic National Library mostly cover the period following the establishment of the Library's Board of Trustees in 1997, with very little surviving before this date. It encompasses the papers of the Trustees, including minutes of meetings, administrative papers, correspondence, and secretary's papers, as well as papers documenting the various moves of library premises until the library's eventual transfer to Durham University Library in 2015; financial papers, including statements of accounts, receipts and invoices, bank statements, and associated correspondence; papers relating to the operational management of the library, including minutes of the meetings of the Management Advisory Committee, IT and staffing matters, management of reader services including research enquiries, visitor books and appointments diaries, and papers relating to the management of the St. Cecilia’s Guild for the Blind collection; membership records; publicity and fundraising, including the papers of various fundraising initiatives and newspaper cuttings publicising the library; historical material collected for a history of the library; printed publications, mostly on Sir Thomas More; and framed objects, including photographs, portraits and maps probably used as decoration in the reading room. The archive also includes the papers of Patricia van der Valk (neé Haskew) who corresponded regularly with the Holy See and whose archive includes memorabilia from the visit of Pope John Paul II to Britain in 1982.

---

Accession details

Donated by Anthony Tyler on 2 October 2015, with further additions on 9 April 2016.

Previous custodial history

Prior to the closure of the Catholic National Library, the archive was stored at Farnborough Abbey.

Conditions of access

Open for consultation with the exception of certain files which have been closed to comply with the Data Protection Act (1998)

Copyright and copying

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from pg.library@durham.ac.uk and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

Arrangement

The arrangement is, for the most part, hierarchical although some series are chronological:
1. Trustees’ Papers
2. Financial Papers
3. Library Management Papers
4. Membership Records
5. Publicity and Fundraising Papers
6. Historical Material
7. Publications
8. Objects
9. Papers of Patricia van der Valk

---

Appraisal

The collection has been appraised. Information which is duplicated in other records, and clean duplicates, have generally been removed

Accruals

No further accruals expected

Bibliography

Skinner, Gerard, A Centennial History of the Catholic National Library (1912-2002) (Fisher Press, 2013)

---

Catalogue

1. Trustees’ Papers
2. Financial Papers
3. Library Management Papers
4. Membership Records
5. Publicity and Fundraising Papers
6. Historical Material
7. Publications
Reference: D12/G
The printed publications in this collection can be found on the Durham University Library catalogue

8. Objects
Framed pictures/photographs and other objects, probably used for decoration in the reading room of the library:

9. Papers of Patricia van der Valk