Visiting & using our collections

The Library is closed to visitors during lockdown and all postal services are suspended

Regretfully, owing to the England-wide lockdown from 5th January 2021, we are unable to supply postal loans, photocopying or carry out research enquiries at Burlington House. We sincerely apologise for the inconvenience and hope to restart postal / on-site services when lockdown restrictions are lifted.

We kindly ask you not to post any returns, publications or donations to the Library until lockdown is over.

Staff are working remotely and will continue to respond to email enquiries sent to [email protected]

For information about requesting images and image licences, please see the page on our website for Images & Photocopying.   

How you can visit

We are always delighted to welcome new researchers to the Library & Museum to consult materials that are not available elsewhere, and to help them navigate our archives and collections.

Please tell us about your research, what you wish to see and when you would like to visit. You can search the majority of our collections online, using our catalogues.

For further information, please see our Guidelines for Researchers [PDF].

When you can visit

We are unable to accept bookings for either the Library or Museum following the England-wide lockdown regulations coming into force on 5th January 2021. We hope to reopen when the COVID-19 situation improves.

How we can help

Engraving by Samuel Lysons and Robert Smirke 1797 of The Orpheus Mosaic at Woodchester

You can contact the Museum ([email protected]) for enquiries about:

• Museum objects
• Paintings

You can contact the Library ([email protected]) for enquiries about:

• Printed materials
• Archives
• Manuscripts
• Prints and drawings

Information on requesting photocopies or scans is available here

You can usually take photographs during your visit (without flash) for private study or reference purposes only, but please ask permission first! The Society can provide high-quality photographs for publication purposes for a fee. You can find more information about requesting images here.