Norfolk Library and Information Service

Title: Norfolk Library and Information Service

Description: Norfolk Library and Information Service provides a public library service to the population of the county of Norfolk. This operates through more than 50 service points including mobile and prison libraries. The combined holdings cover a very large date range (from early local studies material to items currently being added). With regard to resources on the Caribbean the library service holds a small collections of approximately 300 books written by Caribbean writers, or featuring aspects of Caribbean history, culture and heritage. These resources are described as, 'Caribbean life in fiction and non-fiction as well as stories set in the Caribbean and elsewhere.' With regard to the history of Black and Asian peoples in Britain the service has approximately 500 titles (in total) on the history of the South Asian, African and Caribbean diasporas.
The Thetford Library houses the Duleep Singh Collection, comprising material on East Anglia collected by Suwali Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838-1893), a son of Ranjit Singh (the last sovereign ruler of the Punjab territories), who lived in England between 1853-1886 and purchased the Elveden Estate near Thetford, Norfolk, in 1863. The collection includes ephemera and a photograph album of the Maharaja's family and friends.
The Norfolk Heritage Centre in the Norwich and Norfolk Millennium Library provides access to the county's local studies collections and the Norfolk Record Office archives in microform and computerised format. Information from census data and the collections of parish registers should provide relevant information about the county's population demography and the history of Black and Asian peoples in the region.

Strengths: Duleep Singh Collection

Size: c.300 books on the Caribbean and c.500 books on the history of Black and Asian people in Britain.

Catalogue: NORLINK (DS-Galaxy)

Catalogue URL: http://norlink.norfolk.gov.uk/

Main URL: http://www.library.norfolk.gov.uk/

Access: Open access.

Acquisition dates:

Note: For further details about the Duleep Singh Collection, please contact: Thetford Library, Raymond Street, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2EA / Tel: 01842 752048 / Fax: 01842 750125

Interest: Asian, Black

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Cultural heritage

History

Personal/Corporate names

Singh, Duleep, 1838-1893

Places

Elveden Estate, Norfolk, United Kingdom