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The British Library’s collection of British and Irish newspapers since 1840 is housed in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, consisting of 660,000 bound volumes and 370,000 reels of microfilm, stored on 20 miles of shelves in a low oxygen environment. The collection includes 7,200 17th-century newspapers and periodicals from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
The British Library’s extensive collection of British and Irish newspapers comprises nearly every issue published since 1840. Housed in the National Newspaper Building in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire, since 2015, the collection consists of 660,000 bound volumes and 370,000 reels of microfilm, for a total of about 60 million newspapers. This unprecedented historical resource is now successfully stored on 20 miles (33 km) of shelves in a low oxygen environment.
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The newspapers are stored on shelves more than 65 feet (20m) high and are accessed by robotic cranes under carefully monitored conditions.
Many of the newspapers are so old and flimsy that they would crumble if you were allowed to touch them. The storage building oxygen level is maintained at 14% and the humidity level is maintained at 55%.
The British Library’s collection includes the Thomason Tracts, which includes 7,200 17th-century newspapers, and the Burney Collection, which includes periodicals from the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
