Introduction
The colonial collection covers general exploration and European colonisation and includes a significant number of travel journals. The collection of sources for the colonial history of North America is one of the best in the UK.
The division of the library into a colonial classification (classmarks beginning C) and national collections mean that relevant collections may be in different sections of the library, for example:
- Sources for Dutch colonial history are included in the Low Countries collection.
- Post-Independence North-American history is in the US collections.
- Most Latin American history is in the Latin America collection.
The Colonial collection classification scheme is subdivided as below. Sections in bold are on open shelves, others can be requested. You can search the catalogue by classmark.
- CB Bibliography
- CG General Works (mostly open shelves Floor 3)
- CL Area Collections:
-
CLA America (open shelves America room Floor 2)
- CLAA Mainland Colonies (excl. Canada). See the British North America section of the United States guide.
- CLAB Canada Canada guide.
- CLAC Caribbean and Bermuda Caribbean guide.
- CLB Africa
- CLC Asia
- CLD Australasia
- CLE Other Areas (This covers the Polar regions, Space exploration and miscellaneous territories).
-
CLA America (open shelves America room Floor 2)
- CP Periodicals
