London's Transport Museum Reference Library

Title: London's Transport Museum Reference Library

Description: The Reference Library collection is a research and reference resource available to Transport for London staff, and to members of the public by appointment. The library holds publications about the history of London Transport and its predecessors, as well as material documenting the growth of London. A substantial part of the collection focuses on the themes of art, architecture and design in relation to London Transport. Other material includes sections dedicated to vehicles, operating systems and routes, as well as government publications relating to transport policy, studies, Acts and papers.
Scope of the collection: History of Transport for London, the organisation, and its predecessor and successor companies; Transport to, from and within London; Taxis and their regulation; Traffic management; Environmental implications and alternative forms of transport; Architecture and design; Urban transport world-wide and new technology in urban transport; Social and economic history of London ; Growth of specific areas of London; River Thames; Art and architecture of London ; General and specific guides to London; Selected standard works of reference to support the work of staff.
Within the Reference Library material on the Caribbean has not been established as a discrete collection. 10 relevant books and journal articles are available for consultation, primarily covering issues related to the recruitment of employees from the Caribbean region. Most of the information available relates to the islands of Barbados and Jamaica. In addition, the Collections Department holds 26 relevant photographic images, 72 oral history sound recordings, 2 leaflets, 1 poster and 29 'person records'. Other relevant material is housed in the museum's Picture Library, which has a photographic collection of over 100,000 black and white photographs dating from the 1860s to the present as well as over 20,000 colour transparencies. The collection includes images of London Transport staff at work, street scenes of London, road and rail vehicles, construction of the Underground, station architecture and London Transport at war.

Strengths: Information on the recruitment of staff from the Caribbean region in the 1950s

Size: c.40 printed items; 72 sound recordings; 26 photographs

Catalogue:

Catalogue URL:

Main URL: http://www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collect/libra.html

Access: Access by appointment through the Museum's Learning Centre which is open Saturday-Thursday 10.00am-6.00pm and Friday 11.00am-6.00pm.

Acquisition dates: 1925 - present

Note:

Interest: Black, Caribbean

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Employment

Personal/Corporate names

Transport for London

Places

Jamaica

Barbados