| AdminHistory | The collection is based around Margot Johnson's work towards a report edited by Neil Kerr entitled The Parochial Libraries of the Church of England, published in 1959. The report was initiated when the Archbishop of Canterbury asked the Central Council for the Care of Churches (now the Council for the Care of Churches, see below) to assess the number and condition of, and possibilities for future preservation of parish libraries in England and Wales. The final report found that these libraries were suffering from 'damp, neglect, vandalism, wanton destruction, sale without faculty, disposal and alienation'. The Committee urged both clergy and laity to take better care of these collections and recommended improvements in storage, security and stocktaking. The report was revised and republished in 2004 as A Directory of the Parochial Libraries of the Church of England and the Church in Wales, edited by Michael Perkin.
The collection covers the surveys Miss Johnson carried out of the parish libraries of Beverley St Mary and Hull Holy Trinity.
The Beverley St Mary parish library is thought to have been established in 1699, with the gift of a Polyglot bible. Over the next 10 years some 446 volumes were donated, mainly by Thomas Ailred, the Beverley Town recorder, and Charles Warton. However the books were neglected over the years, and by 1856 were apparently being used for lighting fires. At the time of the 1959 Survey 32 volumes remained, but these were in poor condition. In 1970 some volumes are recorded as being displayed in a case in the south transept. In 1977 5 volumes were stolen from the church but were later recovered. In 1983 17 volumes were deposited in the York Minster Library including 8 sixteenth century editions. The five stole volumes were added in 1986 after their recovery.
Hull Holy Trinity parish library appears to have been in existence by the 1660s when the church accounts record that a Mrs. Eleanor Crowle gave donations for the buying of books in 1665, 1666 and 1667 totaling £30. In 1700 there were 331 volumes in the library and in 1796 it was described by John Tickell, as handsome and neat. The collection was stored in its own room, a former chapel, and 4 shillings was allotted annually for the purchase of new books. In 1906 a faculty to sell the library was issued, but the sale does not appear to have occurred as in 1907 the library was given to the Hull Museums Committee and then in 1938 to the University College of Hull Library, where it remains today. At this date it comprises of 667 volumes, many of them dating from pre-1700. A manuscript bible from the collection was exhibited in Hull Town Hall in a display celebrating the 600th anniversary of the Hull Royal Charter from 1899, but was reported missing in 1923. |