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Middle Temple Library Middle Temple Library archive is home to some of Britain’s most valuable and historical legal documents. In 2006 the Honourable Society decided to invest in new facilities to minimise the risk of damage, decay and unauthorised access. Honourable Society of Middle Temple Middle Temple, one of the Inns of Court to which barristers are required to hold membership, is a leafy complex positioned between the Strand and Embankment. It has a fascinating history, past members include Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Martin Frobisher and Richard Hakluyt, and five of the original signatories of the US Declaration of Independence. Middle Temple Hall was the location of the first performance of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night in 1602. Middle Temple Library Middle Temple’s library is one of the most important legal libraries in the country. It holds approximately 250,000 documents, reports, journals and parliamentary papers. The library’s archive, meanwhile, consists of administrative, financial, membership and property records of the Inn since 1501. Many of the documents have tremendous historical significance, for example the collection includes some of the only surviving original documents written by John Donne. It is used by members of the Inn, genealogists and people interested in the history of the local area, art and architecture. The Old Repository The old repository has suffered from a number of problems. It was spread across seven locations, many of which lacked the necessary humidity, light and temperature controls to store the collection safely. There was also limited security and, with the documents being so valuable, there were concerns about the risk of theft. Furthermore it did not have a supervised search area, and lacked the space for new additions to the collection. The New Repository We decided to convert the roof space into a temperature and humidity controlled storage area, large enough to hold the entire collection, along with a new office and research area. We built a sophisticated fire system that, instead of spraying potentially damaging water, removes enough oxygen to stop fire, but leaves enough for human survival. Also we put in a CCTV camera system and a supervised research area. The new repository was opened in July 2008 by John G. Roberts: the seventeenth and current Chief Justice of the United States (who inaugurated President Obama in January 2009) and Lord Phillips (Lord Chief Justice here in the UK). A successful project The works have been a great success. To quote Lesley Whitelaw, Archivist at Middle Temple library, “The new archive has been wonderful. The staff are very happy, and it fantastic to know that these important documents are now being more safely stored.” |
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