Manx National Heritage Library and Archives

Location
    • Web
    • Email
    • Telephone
        +44 (0) 1624 648 047
    • Address
        Kingswood Grove, Douglas, IM1 3LY, Isle of Man
    • Opening Hours
      • Wednesday to Saturday: 10:00 - 17:00.(Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, Bank Holidays, between Christmas and New Year, and during the last week in January).
    • Access Information
        On your first visit you will be asked to complete a registration form and provide proof of your identity, showing your current address (if you are under 16 we will also need a consent form signed by your parent or guardian). On receipt of your completed registration form, you will be issued with a Readers' Card, displaying your name and membership number - please keep this safe and bring your card with you on future visits. By registering, you are signing to accept our general terms and conditions including copyright restrictions.
    • Reproduction Services
        A copying service is available, subject to the condition of original materials and copyright restrictions. Requests for copies from outside the Isle of Man may be supplied as photocopies by post or by e-mail of scanned images. Use of cameras is permitted to take images for private research.
    • Archival and Other Holdings

      For over a century manuscripts, maps and plans, photographs, prints and posters, and film and sound recordings, have been actively collected and preserved on behalf of the people of the Isle of Man, forming the archives of the Manx National Heritage Library and Archives. The Archives provide a rich resource of information on all aspects of Manx archaeological, cultural and environmental heritage for school projects, academic researchers, family historians, publishers, broadcasters and the general enquirer.

      Situated at The Manx Museum, the Manx National Heritage Library and Archives is a free facility, and every year many thousands of people make use of it for their research.

      The Archives contain around 1.4 million photographs, 1,200 sound and moving image deposits and about 22,000 deposits of manuscripts, archives, maps & plans. They form a rich centralized resource of information on all aspects of Manx history, heritage, language and cultural activities, genealogy, landholding, law, folklore, government, international trade and relations.

      The Archives include:

      Record of the legislature (Tynwald Court), judiciary and executive government of the Isle of Man.

      Papers of the Earls of Derby and the Dukes of Atholl, former Lords of Mann.

      Land tenure records (from the early 16th century) and registered deeds to 1910.

      Probate records from early 1600s to 1910.

      Business records for banking, retail and entertainment sectors; mining, textile manufacture, agriculture (dairy farming), shipping and rail transportation companies.

      Correspondence and accounts of 18th and early 19th century merchants trading in the Irish Sea area as well as Europe and North America.

      Associational archives including friendly societies (Rechabites, Oddfellows &c), Manx antiquarian societies (Manx Society, Isle of Man Natural History and Antiquarian Society), sports and social clubs and charitable associations. Also the Isle of Man Employers' Federation and trade union archives.

      Private, family & literary papers, including papers of the Goldie-Taubmans, Drinkwaters of Kirby, Gibbs of the Grove and Quayles of Bridge House, Castletown.

      Literary papers of Sir Hall Caine and Nigel Kneale.

      Papers of clergymen, archaeologists and antiquarians.

      Internment records (the Isle of Man was used by the British Government for the internment of 'enemy aliens' during both World Wars).

      Military records, including substantial records for the Royal Manx Fencibles.

      Parochial and diocesan records from the 16th century and non-conformist and Roman Catholic archives.

      Public records including those from the Isle of Man Government Rolls Office, Government Office and Isle of Man Constabulary.

      Ordnance Survey and commercially published historical maps, specialist estate and landholding surveys and abandoned lead mining plans from the early 17th century to the present.

      Moving images from 1914 to the present including tourist films, the TT motorcycle races and home movies.

      Photographic collection from the early days of photography to the present day, documenting the Isle of Man and its people.

      Posters advertising the Island as a holiday destination and its sporting events, as well as proclamations and decrees issued during the 19th and early 20th centuries by the respective Lieutenant Governors.

      Sound recordings from the early 1900s to the present day, including the last native Manx speakers, general Manx oral history, music and public broadcasts.

      There are a range of information sheets to help answer frequently asked questions available at:

      https://manxnationalheritage.im/collections/library-and-archives/

    Collections