BEFORE YOU VISIT
Contact the Library's Admissions Office 
on 01223 333084 and book an appointment to obtain a reader card.
Click here for further details.
An introduction to the Collections and the resources available:
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/rcs/
RCS Photograph Project
www.lib.cam.ac.uk/rcs_photo_project/homepage.html
RCS Library at Cambridge University
At the heart of the Society
Established by the Society's founding members in 1868, for over one hundred years the RCS Library stood at the very heart of the organisation. The Library reflected an important aim of the original Royal Colonial Institute: "to establish a reading room and a library, in which recent and authentic intelligence upon colonial subjects may be constantly available".
From its inception, the library quickly increased in size and reputation and, despite damage during World War II, grew to over half a million items. Yet, the post-war years saw growing uncertainty for the library and, in 1968, a major part of the collection was sold to the National Library of Australia. Mounting financial concerns, coupled with severe flood damage, led to the decision that it was no longer viable for the Society to maintain the library. The collection was acquired by Cambridge University and moved to its new site during the summer of 1993.
The Library Collection today
Today the Royal Commonwealth Society Library contains a vast array of fascinating materials. Over 300,000 printed items include 700 archival collections of manuscript diaries, correspondence, pictures, cine-films, maps, scrapbooks and newspaper cuttings. A photograph collection, containing more than 100,000 images from across the Commonwealth, includes albums, loose prints, glass slides, transparencies and a small collection of cine films.
The collections document the topography, architecture and life of Britain's colonial dependencies and modern Commonwealth countries, as well as providing a visual record of key historical events. The photographs date from the mid-1850s to the mid-1980s, many reflecting the work of those engaged in the fields of public works, medicine, surveying and education. Embossed leather-bound albums of photographic portraits provide a unique insight into the RCS members of the past 140 years and old Commonwealth Essay Competition entries offer a fascinating illustration of evolving concepts of Commonwealth, the individual and society.
Work in Cambridge is ongoing to catalogue, preserve and improve access to these invaluable materials. As a result, a proportion of the Collections' catalogues are now searchable online and it is possible to view a selection of digitised images using the links below.
[!]If you have any research enquiries or would like to find out more about online RCS Library materials or about visiting the collection in Cambridge, please contact Communications Manager, Joanna Bennett on 020 7766 9230.[/!]
If you are interested in finding out more about the fascinating history of the RCS Library Collections, or about the ongoing work in Cambridge, 
click here 
to read an article by RCS librarian, Rachel Rowe.