The National Trust has published an extensive online bibliography, listing for the first time references of over 4,000 books and articles that have been published about its properties, people and collections – in some instances before the founding of the Trust in 1895.
Head Curator, David Adshead said: ‘It has been a long-held ambition to provide this resource to our visitors and offer them the chance to find out more about their favourite Trust house, garden or collection. Whether they want to dig a little deeper into the history of a garden, learn more about an intriguing painting or piece of furniture, or just discover something new about a grand or eccentric family, we hope that students, researchers and the general public will all find it a useful and fascinating resource.’
Facts
* The earliest reference in the bibliography dates from 1578 with the description of a visit by Queen Elizabeth I to Melford Hall in Suffolk.
* The property which has attracted the greatest interest from writers is Stowe Landscape Gardens in Buckinghamshire with no fewer than 100 entries.
* The most prolific author of articles and books about the National Trust is architectural historian John Cornforth (1937 – 2004) with over 100 publications to his name.
The online bibliography is arranged by property and then alphabetically by author. It will be updated every 3 – 6 months.
Use
The Bibliography is arranged by property, and then alphabetically by author. Most of the books, and some journals and magazines, can of course be found in any good library. For access to rarer titles a visit to one of the country’s copyright libraries may be necessary. A great many articles can now be found online, particularly via portals such as JSTOR (Journal Storage: www.jstor.org or the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (ODNB: www.oxforddnb.com – now provided free by many public and university libraries. Contact your local public library for more details.
National Trust News: LINK
