Bishopsgate Institute, Cultural institution and reference library in City of London, England
Bishopsgate Institute is a charitable organization and reference library in the Ward of Bishopsgate, in the City of London. The building was designed by Charles Harrison Townsend and completed in 1895 in an Art Nouveau style, and it is listed as a Grade II* protected structure.
The Institute grew from charitable funds gathered over centuries by the parish of St. Botolph-without-Bishopsgate, which were brought together into a single fund in 1891. That consolidation made it possible to commission the current building and formally establish the institution as it exists today.
The Institute holds Britain's largest LGBTQIA+ archive, which visitors can consult directly in the reading room. Alongside it, collections on labor movements and social activism make this a place where the history of ordinary people is taken seriously.
The library is open on weekdays, with longer hours on Wednesdays than on other days. It is worth checking in advance whether a prior booking is needed to consult specific archival materials.
The Institute is home to the Great Diary Project, a collection of over 15,000 unpublished personal diaries gathered from across Britain. These are the writings of ordinary people, recording everyday experiences that appear in no official source.
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