The Society’s Library and Archive contains a rich collection of manuscript and printed material connected with the Museum’s collections, and with the area’s past.
The Library is an excellent source of information for the Whitby area.
The Library specialises in the following subject areas
Local History – collections of books, pamphlets, journals, maps, prints and manuscripts for Whitby and the surrounding area (approx 15 miles radius)
Maritime History – collections of books, Lloyds registers, and records including muster rolls, and ships’ account and log books
Geology – extensive collection of books and journals relating to the history of geology and the internationally important discoveries of Jurassic fossils made in the 19th Century in the Whitby area
Industrial heritage – sources for the development of the alum, jet, ironstone, and potash industries and the railways in the area
Family History – many sources including printed parish registers, lists of monumental inscriptions for some local churches, wills, and indexes to wills in the York Registry
Literature and language – a small literature collection focusing on novels, poetry and plays that are either by Whitby writers or are about Whitby, and a small collection on Yorkshire dialect