The Seeley Historical Library is the history library of the University of Cambridge. It is housed within the History Faculty building. Since October 2003 incoming books have been classified according to the Library of Congress scheme, before that a unique system was used. The library is open to university students only, six days a week, in term between 9am and 7.15pm (6pm on Saturday).
History
The history library was established in 1807 by John Symonds, with a collection of 1000 books. After some years of neglect, the library again became a priority in 1884, on the behest of Oscar Browning. It was moved from the gallery of the Philosophical Library to King’s College in 1890. In 1897 it was renamed in honour of the historian Sir John Seeley. After a few more moves, the library finally ended up on the Sidgwick site in 1968, in the new History Faculty building designed by James Stirling. Today it accommodates over 300 students and houses more than 95,000 volumes.
