Photograph of the front of the LWL

Lewis Walpole Library

Location

154 Main Street
Farmington, CT 06032
860-677-2140

The Lewis Walpole Library is an internationally recognized research collection in the field of British eighteenth-century studies. Its unrivaled collection of Walpoliana includes half the traceable volumes from Horace Walpole's famous library at Strawberry Hill and many letters and other manuscripts by him. The Library's book and manuscript collections, numbering over 32,000 volumes, cover all aspects of eighteenth-century British culture.

The Library is also home to the largest and finest collection of eighteenth-century British graphic art outside the British Museum; its 35,000 satirical prints, portraits, and topographical views are an incomparable resource for visual material on many facets of English life of the period.

Located in Farmington, Connecticut, the Lewis Walpole Library's collections also include drawings, paintings, and furniture, all housed on a 14-acre campus with four historically important structures and extensive grounds. The Library runs an active fellowship program and sponsors conferences, lectures, and exhibitions in cooperation with other Yale libraries and departments.

The Lewis Walpole Library is a non-circulating, closed-stack library. Rare books, manuscripts, prints, and drawings may be consulted only in the Reading Room.  Visitors are encouraged to view the Reader Guidelines before visiting the library. 

What's Available: 

Printer
Public Computer
Large Tables
Absolute Quiet

Hours


Access

The Lewis Walpole Library welcomes Yale-affiliated faculty, students, and staff and non-Yale researchers. The exhibition gallery is open to members of the public. All visitors must comply with the Yale COVID-19 visitor policies

 

Directions

The Library is typically about fifty minutes from the New Haven campus and about twenty minutes from Hartford by car. The Library is about a forty-minute drive from the nearest airport, which is Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks.