History of the Newspaper Library

Chronology of Key Dates in the History of the Newspaper Library

• 1822 : Newspapers are passed to the British Museum from the Stamp Office.
• 1869 : Newspaper Printers and Reading Rooms Act: newspapers to be deposited by publishers at the British Museum.
• 1897 : Space for newspapers in the British Museum at Bloomsbury exhausted.
• 1900 : British Museum Bill authorising the disposal of pre-1837 newspapers is withdrawn after protests.
• 1902 : British Museum Act authorising purchase of the Colindale site.
• 1903 : British Museum Newspaper Repository completed as a warehouse for English provincial, Irish, Scottish, and Welsh newspapers.
• 1905 : Newspaper Repository opened.

A weekly horse and cart delivery of newspapers from Colindale to Bloomsbury.
• 1922 : Newspaper Repository is full.
• 1928 : Royal Commission on National Museums and Galleries Interim Report recommends that the Colindale Repository be enlarged to contain all newspapers published later than 1800 and that a reading room be built.
• 1930 : Building of the library commences.
• 1932 - Aug 23 : British Museum Newspaper Library is opened.

All newspapers are transferred from Bloomsbury to Colindale, except for the pre-1801 London newspapers in the Burney Collection, and newspapers in oriental scripts.
• 1940 - Oct 20 : A Luftwaffe bomb destroys the 1903 building. An estimated 6,000 volumes of newspapers are also destroyed and a further 15,000 volumes are damaged.
• 1950 : Two temporary storage buildings (sheds) are built as well as a microfilm annexe to house equipment donated by the Rockefeller Foundation of New York.
• 1951 : Temporary buildings are full.
• 1956 : New extension to the Library is commenced: the 'new wing'.
• 1957 : New extension is finished with space up until 1970.
• 1959 : Post of Superintendent is upgraded to Senior Executive Officer and is filled by Peter Allen.
• 1969 : Microfilming of the foreign newspaper collection begins.
• 1971 : New Microfilm building is completed.
• 1972 : Middle Reading Room, staff canteen, and the public cafeteria are built on the site of the old microfilm annexe.
• 1973 : British Library is established. All library departments of the British Museum are formed into the new national library of the United Kingdom.
• 1975 : Catalogue of the Newspaper Library Colindale, compiled by P.E. Allen, is published in eight volumes.

First volume of the Bibliography of British Newspapers (Wiltshire) is published.
• 1976 : Study into the future policy of the Newspaper Library by Andrew Phillips is published.
• 1977 : A consultation paper, The Newspaper Collections and the Future, is published.
• 1979 : The Plan for the Newspaper Collections published. Working Party on Access to Newspapers is established.
• 1980 : First curatorial post in the Newspaper Library is established when John Westmancoat is appointed as Information Officer.

First edition of the British Library Newspaper Library Newsletter is published, which becomes Newspaper Library News in 1997.
International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Working Group on Newspapers is established.
• 1981 : Retirement of Peter Allen.

First professional Head of the Newspaper Library is appointed: Stephen Green.
• 1982 : Fifty years of service to readers and libraries commemorated.
• 1983 : Report of the Working Party on Access to Newspapers published.

First NEWSPLAN project established.
British Library Consultative Group on Newspapers is set up.
• 1985 : Eve Johannson is appointed Head of the Newspaper Library.

New Microfilm Reading Area opened.
120 Colindale Avenue is leased.
• 1986 : First of the NEWSPLAN reports is published (South West).
• 1987 : First international symposium on newspaper preservation and access is organised by IFLA.
• 1989 : Geoffrey Hamilton is appointed Head of the Newspaper Library.
• 1991 : Newspaper Library becomes responsible for the Newspaper Legal Deposit Office at 120 Colindale Avenue, formerly administered by the Copyright Receipt Office.
• 1994 : Geoff Smith is appointed Head of the Newspaper Library and Newspaper Librarian.

Conversion of the Newspaper Library catalogue to machine-readable form is commenced.
A high density store for positive microfilm is built.
• 1995 : Conversion of the catalogue is completed.
• 1996 : Erection of two-storey prefabricated building with reader facilities on the first floor - the 'New Reading Room' - providing twenty-nine extra reader places.

Final NEWSPLAN report is published (London and South Eastern Library Region).
British Library Newspapers website is established.
• 1997 : John Byford is appointed Head of the Newspaper Library and Newspaper Librarian.

A Closed Circuit Television system is installed in the Reading Rooms.
Structural damage necessitates the destruction of the former official residence of the Superintendent, to the west side of the Newspaper Library site, built in 1903.
• 1999 : The Heritage Lottery Fund awards a grant of £5 million to NEWSPLAN.

Edmund King is appointed Head of the Newspaper Library and Newspaper Librarian.
An online catalogue of the collections is made available in the Reading Rooms.
• 2000 : The Newspapers catalogue of over 52,000 newspaper and periodical title holdings is launched on the web.

British Library Newspapers building in the 1980s