The William Salt Library is a

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

and

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

, in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, England. It is located about south of Stoke-on-Trent, north of Wolverhampton, and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 71,673 at the 2021–2022 United Kingd ...

, Staffordshire, England. Supported by

Staffordshire County Council Staffordshire County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Staffordshire, England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includ ...

, it is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

, administered by an independent trust in conjunction with the Staffordshire & Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service, which also operates the

county archives In the United Kingdom (and particularly in England and Wales) a county record office is usually a local authority repository, also called a county archives. Such repositories employ specialist staff to administer and conserve the historic and th ...

from an adjacent building. The core of the library is the large collection of printed books, pamphlets, manuscripts, drawings, watercolours, and transcripts built up by William Salt (1808–1863), a London banker. After his death, Helen, his widow donated the collection to Staffordshire and the library opened in 1872. In 1918 moved to its present home in Eastgate Street, a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

house completed in 1735. The library continues to collect and preserve printed material relating to Staffordshire and represents a major source for local and family history in Staffordshire. The library's holdings are available for consultation by the public free of charge. The library is supported by the Friends of the William Salt Library. As well as raising funds for the library to enable it to purchase items for the collection, the Friends also help in practical ways, such as packaging and cleaning items in the collection.

Colin Dexter Norman Colin Dexter (29 September 1930 – 21 March 2017) was an English crime writer known for his ''Inspector Morse'' series of novels, which were written between 1975 and 1999 and adapted as an ITV (TV network), ITV television series, ''Inspec ...

undertook much of the research for his eighth

Inspector Morse Endeavour Morse, GM, is the namesake character of the series of "Morse" detective novels by British author Colin Dexter, a Detective Chief Inspector in the Thames Valley Police in Oxford, England. On television he was portrayed by John ...

novel ''

The Wench is Dead ''The Wench Is Dead'' is a historical crime novel by Colin Dexter, the eighth novel in the Inspector Morse series. The novel received the Gold Dagger Award in 1989. Plot summary In 1859, the body of a young woman was found floating in the Oxfo ...

'' (published in 1989) at the library. Dexter recalled that he spent "a good many fruitful hours in the library" consulting contemporary newspaper reports of the murder of Christina Collins, on which the novel was based. He subsequently became patron of the library's 135th anniversary fund-raising appeal.

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External links

*
Friends of the William Salt Library
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1735 Archives in Staffordshire Libraries in Staffordshire Buildings and structures in Stafford Charities based in Staffordshire History of Staffordshire Organizations established in 1872 Grade II* listed buildings in Staffordshire 1872 establishments in England

See also

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