History of the Library
Following the foundation of the National Museum of Wales, the first Librarian was appointed in 1914, three years after construction work on the Museum began.
The initial collection of the Library moved in the 1920's into a purpose built library, but material pertinent to the individual departments later moved out to form a number of departmental libraries. The original room is now used, therefore, as the Main or General Library, housed in the National Museum Cardiff.
The main purpose of the Library is to serve the curatorial staff, together with other colleagues. Approximately 3000 volumes are added annually, by purchase, donation and exchange and, at present, the collection consists of over 200,000 monographs and bound journals, and the Library currently receives 1200 periodicals.
Besides the general reference material and the museology collection, the Main Library holds all the pre-1701 books in the Library, together with a number of other special collections such as the Willoughby Gardner collection of early natural history books.
The Museum sites with libraries that are accessible for research, by appointment, are: National Museum Cardiff, St Fagans: National History Museum, National Slate Museum, National Roman Legion Museum, National Wool Museum and National Waterfront Museum.
The Main Library staff consists of three full time and two part time members, and St Fagans has its own full time Librarian.
Choose a category from the menu below to find out more about the Library's collections.
For information on how to access the collections, go to Services.
