Useful Links

The Museum's Department of Ornithology holds the Rothschild collection of bird skins, an internationally important collection of over 280,000 specimens. The skins were originally collected by Walter Rothschild and kept in his museum at Tring Park. The museum also holds a number of archival and photographic rersources relating to the collection. 

This department of the Archives Nationales holds on deposit the business papers of the Paris bank.

Written permission must be sought from the Director of the Archive before access is granted, and permission for photocopies to be made must be specified in the letter of application. A printed catalogue of the collection is available in the reading room of The Rothschild Archive.

The Arolsen Archives, fomerly known as the International Tracing Service were established by the Western Allies in the final days of the Second World War and initially run by the Red Cross. The Arolsen Archives are an international center on Nazi persecution with the world’s most comprehensive archive on the victims and survivors of National Socialism. The collection has information on about 17.5 million people and is recognised by the UNESCO Memory of the World programme. It contains documents on the various victim groups targeted by the Nazi regime and is an important source of knowledge for society today.

In partnership with the World Holocaust Remembrance Center, Yad Vashem, the Archives have published a new online archive with more than 13 million documents featuring information on over 2.2 million people. The database contains a comprehensive collection of documents from concentration camps, including prisoner cards and death notices. This database is the first of several large collections scheduled to go online in future.

The mission of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is to serve central banks in their pursuit of monetary and financial stability, to foster international cooperation in those areas and to act as a bank for central banks. BIS has scanned all its historic annual reports online from 1931 to 1996 and they are full of useful information to economic and busieness historians.

This academic site is conceived as a digital tool to encourage research, professional consultation and teaching regarding the Banking and Financial History of Latin America and Spain. The goal is twofold: to offer an academic portal, rich in resources, data and links for the leading experts in the field and to promote further this specialized knowledge to a broader public through a virtual museum.

Lionel Walter Rothschild (1868-1937), in his capacity as the unofficial leader of the British Jewish community, was the 'Lord Rothschild' to whom Balfour addressed his 1917 proposal regarding the establishment of a Jewish state. On November 1st 1917, Lord Rothschild was informally notified that a letter would be sent to him the following day from Foreign Secretary Balfour; that letter was to be the Balfour Declaration. In the letter, the British Government expressed its sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations and announced that it would use its “best endeavours” to facilitate “the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people”. The Balfour agreement became the diplomatic foundation stone of the state of Israel.

Balfour 100 is an website initiated by Lord Jacob Rothschild and managed by a Steering Committee representing Jewish communal organisations. The Balfour 100 tribute is a comprehensive set of activities including a range of digital resources, educational programmes, communal events, and the Balfour 100 Tribute Lecture by Professor Simon Schama.

Rothschild has a long association with the Bank of England. In 1825, the Bank was sustained by a large payment by the London house of Rothschild. The Bank of England’s Archive contains over 80,000 ledgers, files and individual records relating to all aspects of the history of the Bank and its work, dating from its foundation in 1694 to the present. The Archive supports the work of the Bank today, and provides facilities for researchers from all over the world. The Bank's records are of prime importance to economic historians, but its holdings are of interest to social, local, and business historians, architectural specialists, biographers and genealogists.

Barclays Group Archives are home to the records of Barclays PLC and its predecessors, dating from 1567 to the present day. Archivists at Barclays have made thousands of items from the archives freely available online.  Featuring branch photographs, advertising material, annual reports and a selection of other weird and wonderful items amassed by the Archives over the years, the website also includes information on Barclays’ history around the world, and is of interest to serious scholars and casual browsers.  

For much of the nineteenth century, Barings specialised in issuing bearer bonds for overseas governments and businesses, especially railway companies, and this work led to co-operation with the London Rothschild bank on a number of loans. The Baring Archive is owned by ING, which acquired Barings in 1995. In 2008 The Baring Archive, together with the associated historical portraits, was loaned to The Baring Archive Limited, a charitable company established by ING to manage the collections and encourage their use as an educational resource. The Baring Archive contains material from the establishment in 1762 of the London merchant house of John & Francis Baring & Co, later known as Baring Brothers, through to the firm’s acquisition by ING. The documents illustrate the range of Barings’ business activities.

In 1964 Bethsabée Louise Emilie Beatrix de Rothschild (later Batsheva) (1914-1999) established the Batsheva Dance Company (a dance troupe and school) with the help of Martha Graham and founded on her principles of dance. Around 1967 she met and became friends with Jeanette Ordman, a classically trained ballet dancer, and wanted to install her as Artistic Director at Batsheva Dance Company but this received strong opposition from within the organisation which caused a rift between Bethsabée and the Batsheva Dance Company and led to the foundation, with Jeanette Ordman, of the Bat Dor Dance Company in 1968. In 2014, Batsheva’s Jubilee Year, the company inaugurated an archive documenting its fifty years of existence, creating a resource for the documentation and preservation of archival material relating to Israeli dance, and dance research in general.

Brady Street Jewish cemetery in London's east end opened in 1761 and closed in 1858. The cemetery contains some famous occupants - notably Nathan Mayer Rothschild (1777-1836), founder of the London bank, and his wife Hannah (1783-1850). Their tombs are inscribed with words eulogising their lives. Victor, 3rd Lord Rothschild (1910-1990) was interred at Brady Street in 1990.

The Battersea Papers (47909-47964) is a collection of diaries and correspondence of Constance de Rothschild (later Lady Battersea), her husband, mother, father and sister.

The Waddesdon Bequest is a collection of around 300 precious objects gathered together in the 19th Century by two members of the Rothschild family and bequeathed to the British Museum by Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in 1898.

The two towns of Buda and Pest have faced each other across the Danube for centuries. The idea of building a bridge across the Danube was first proposed by Graf Istvan Széchenyi (1791-1860). To achieve his vision, he gathered a group of powerful financiers, including Baron Salomon von Rothschild (1774-1855). Work began in October 1839 under the direction of Adam Clarke, a Scots engineer. The Bridge was eventually opened to traffic on 21 November 1849. The Buda pesth Chain bridge Archive recording project, under the auspices of the Kiscelli Múzeum is a database of over 480 digital records of drawings and English language manuscripts spanning the period 1828 and 1850, relating to the construction of the Bridge.

The Butrint Foundation was founded in 1993 by Jacob, 4th Lord Rothschild (b.1936) and Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, (both of whom remain active trustees), to save the remains of the ancient city of Buthrotos where, according to Virgil, Andromache the widow of Hector found refuge after Troy fell, and which was occupied from the 8th century BC by Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, and the Turks. The ruins, which include a Greek theatre, a Byzantine baptistery and a Venetian castle, are spread over 35 acres in Albania, facing Lord Rothschild's villa on Corfu. As of 2012, the Butrint Foundation has evolved into a grant making organisation, offering funds to projects and groups on the ground in the Butrint National Park. 

Founded in 1934, the objectives of the Business Archives Council (BAC) are to: promote the preservation of business records of historical importance; supply advice and information on the administration and management of both archives and modern records; and encourage interest in the history of business in Britain. The Council's produces an electronic newsletter and the past publication programme Business Archives is available online. Other Council publications include Managing Business Archives and Business History Explorer. In recent years surveys of the archives of brewing, banking and shipbuilding have been published, as has a survey of the archives of 1,000 of the oldest registered companies in Britain. The Council is a registered charity and derives much of its income from the annual subscriptions of its members. These include business organisations, libraries and other institutions, and individual archivists, records managers, business people and historians. An annual conference gives members the opportunity to meet, as well as to hear papers on themes of current interest.

A substantial quantity of archival material relating to the work of the Rothschilds' Palestine Jewish Colonisation Association (PICA) is held at the CZA. Hebrew finding aids are available to visiting researchers. The archives contain information on individual colonists that will be of interest to genealogists, although the enquirer must be aware that the research necessary to locate such information must be undertaken by the enquirer. Moreover, access to material is restricted in conformity with privacy legislation and the requirements of Yad Hanadiv.

One of Baron Philippe de Rothschild’s innovations at Mouton was his introduction of château bottling, necessitating the design of a label unique to Mouton. In 1924, poster designer Jean Carlu was commissioned to create an original label. This design was used again in 1925 and 1926. Between 1928 and 1934 the label underwent a number of adjustments, with the inclusion of the ‘Rams Rampant’ device and the official declaration of the number of bottles produced that year. From 1946 onwards an important contemporary artist was commissioned each year to illustrate the label with an original work. Since then, artists including Jean Cocteau (1947), Georges Braque (1955), Salvador Dali (1958), Henry Moore (1964), Joan Miró (1969), Marc Chagall (1970), Wassily Kandinsky (1971), Pablo Picasso (1973), Andy Warhol (1975), John Huston (1982), Francis Bacon (1990), HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (2004), and Jeff Koons (2010) have created labels. The Mouton website includes a gallery of these unique miniature works of art.

The Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), the “Special Task Force” was one of the main agencies engaged in the plunder of cultural valuables in Nazi-occupied countries during the Second World War. A particularly notorious operation by the ERR was the plunder of art from French Jewish and a number of Belgian Jewish collections from 1940 to 1944 that were brought to the Jeu de Paume building in the Tuileries Gardens in Paris for processing by the ERR Sonderstab Bildende Kunst or “Special Staff for Pictorial Art.”

This database brings together for the first time in searchable illustrated form the remaining registration cards and photographs produced by the ERR covering more than 20,000 art objects taken from Jews in German-occupied France and Belgium. The database is a detailed record of a small but important part of the vast seizure of cultural property that was integral to the Holocaust. The database includes details of many items from Rothschild family collections.

Charlotte Béatrice de Rothschild (1864-1934) married Baron Maurice Ephrussi in 1883. In 2018, the Archive of the Eprhussi family, as explored by Edmund de Waal in The Hare with Amber Eyes, was donated by the family to the Jewish Museum in Vienna. The Ephrussi Archive contains hundreds of photographs, notebooks, diaries and letters relating to the family’s life in Vienna, Paris, Odessa and Tokyo. It also includes manuscripts of Elisabeth de Waal’s novels and a Secessionist album of watercolours of characters in Fin-de-Siecle Vienna. In autumn 2018, the famous netsuke collection will be joining the museum on long-term loan also. 

In 1967, Sir Evelyn de Rothschild established The Eranda Rothschild Foundation to champion education, healthcare and social welfare. Today, The Eranda Foundation has grown into one of the largest foundations in the UK – receiving more than 1,000 applications a year. The Foundation supports a wide variety of activities – from cutting edge research in economics or Alzheimer’s to the Arts. The Eranda Foundation distributes £4m to £5m per annum, the majority to charities in the UK, but significant support is also given to charities in the US and other countries, including for example, Africa, Haiti, India and Israel.

Established in 1990, The European Association for Banking History supports a regular programme of publications, colloquia and conferences dedicated to banking and financial history. Sir Evelyn de Rothschild (1931-2022) was the founding chairman of the EABH.

Lionel de Rothschild bought the Exbury estate in 1919 with the proceeds from the sale of his uncle Alfred’s house at Halton which he had inherited. It was Lionel’s gardening passion which led him to choose the Exbury estate with its 2600 acres. The climate was gentle here and the soil was acid, ideal for the flowers which were to become his passion – rhododendrons.

The Gardens continue to be looked after and developed with loving care by the current generation of Exbury Rothschilds. Today the Gardens and Steam Railway are a spectacular 200 acre (80 hectare) site, world-famous for the Rothschild Collection of rhododendrons, azaleas, camellias, rare trees and shrubs. This earthly paradise offers a riot of colour in spring, an oasis of tranquillity in summer followed by a splendid show as the leaves change in the autumn. In 2019 Exbury celebrated its centenary year with the creation of new gardens. 

The philanthropic foundation of the French Rothschild family manages a number of initiatives that care for the elderly, the young, the sick. 

The University Library houses the former "Rothschild'sche Bibliothek", that was donated by Hannah Louise in memory of her father Mayer Carl, in 1887. The Judaica Collection Frankfurt has been digitised, including many items relating to the Rothschild family, including a large collection of over 30 years of press cutttings concerniing the family.

Gunnersbury was the estate to the west of London purchased by Nathan Mayer Rothschild in 1835. The estate passed through the Rothschild family until 1925, when it was sold to the boroughs of Acton and Ealing by Leopold's son, Lionel, and opened the following year as a public park. The house is now a local history museum.

Now RAF Halton, the house is the former home of Alfred de Rothschild. Visits to the house and gardens can be arranged by special appointment.

The University of British Columbia Library’s Rare Books & Special Collections has acquired the personal archive of Hanne Wassermann Walker (1893-1985). Born in Vienna to a Jewish family, Hanne Wassermann Walker was a well-known figure of Viennese society during the 1920s and 1930s. Wassermann Walker was at the forefront of the Weimar-era body culture movement. Her school of gymnastics and health manuals for women brought her international fame and recognition from reputed medical institutions and clinical specialists. Among her correspondents, friends and students were film stars, artists, members of the European aristocracy, and the Rothschild family. In 1938, Hanne Wassermann Walker left Nazi-occupied Austria and emigrated to Canada.

The Hartley Library has developed a special interest in collections of papers concerning Anglo-Jewry. The Rothschild family and their circle are respresented here. This link takes you to the Guide to the Archive and Manuscript Collections of the Hartley Library.

Hidden Treasures is a project of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the only democratically elected, cross-communal, representative body in the Jewish community. Archives featured on the Hidden Treasures website are part of a national network of state, local and communal archives that will enable users to discover more about the history of Jews and the Jewish community in Britain. The network of archives represented on the Hidden Treasures website covers everything from local history to refugee records and new archives are being added all the time. Users can search by theme or browse through Britain's leading Jewish history collections.

Historic England Archive is English Heritage's archive of historic photographs plans and drawings of historic buildings of England. The archive includes the former Royal Commission for Historical Monuments collections. Material in the archive dates from the 1850s. The archive holds many photographs of Rothschild estates and properties, including many formerly held in the archive of the photographic studio of Bedford Lemere. The archive holds material relating to Mentmore Towers, Tring Park Mansion, Walter Rothschild's Zoological Museum Tring Park, Louisa Cottages Tring, 5 Hamilton Place, Ascott House, Halton House, Rushbrooke Hall, and the Rothschild Mausoleum West Ham Jewish Cemetery.

IDS was established as the Four Per Cent Dwellings Company in 1885 by a group of Jewish philanthropists including Nathaniel, 1st Lord Rothschild who hoped to relieve the overcrowding in homes in the East End of London. In 1952, it became the Industrial Dwellings Society (1885) Ltd. Today, IDS manages around 1,500 properties in Hackney, Tower Hamlets, Southwark, Redbridge, Barnet and Hertsmere.

Created in 2001, the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA), Paris is an Academic, Cultural and Professional Public Establishment (EPSCP – Établissement public scientifique, culturel et professionnel) under the supervision of the ministers of Higher Education, Research and Culture. The INHA is responsible for developing academic activity and contributing to international academic cooperation in the fields of art history and heritage. It is active in the fields of research, education and the diffusion of knowledge and provides access to vast documentary resources for researchers and others active in the discipline. In October 2016, the Institut launched the 'Projet Rothschild' to document Rothshcild collections donated to French institutions.

The website for information about Jacqueline Piatigorsky (1911-2012), the daughter of Baron Edouard de Rothschild. An accomplished artist and sculptor, she spent much of her life creating and developing her own unique artistic identity. Although initially she worked in drawing and oil painting, she was drawn to the more complex three-dimensional representations of sculpture for self-expression. She worked in clay for several years before she started experimenting in stone sculpture in her late forties. She studied piano in her youth, taught herself basoon later and even composed a piece that her cellist husband played in concert. She was inducted into the U.S Chess Hall of Fame for her brilliant tournament achievements (bronze medallist in the chess Olympics, 1957) and many contributions as a patron and pioneer in chess. There is extensive information about her career as a chess player on the World Chess Hall of Fame website. During her senior years she won more than forty national tennis championships. Her literary efforts led her to publish an insightful memoir (Jump in the Waves, St Martin Press 1988) as well as several essays. In 1966 she was honored for her unique contributions by being chosen by the Los Angeles Times as Woman of the Year.

Jewish Country Houses – Objects, Networks, People is a 5-year research project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council commencing in October 2019. The project is a collaboration between the Universities of Oxford, Durham and Cardiff, the National Trust, Waddesdon Manor and Strawberry Hill House (all UK), and European partners including the Centre des Monuments Nationaux (France), individual partner properties, and the European Association for the Preservation and Promotion of Jewish Culture and Heritage (AEPJ). The project has been incubated over four years with the generous support of TORCH (The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities). The project takes country houses as a starting point for opening up a much broader intellectual agenda at the interface between Jewish history, art history and heritage culture. It is organised around two major strands: politics/philanthropy and collecting/material culture.

Housed in a former Rothschild palais on the Untermainkai, the Jewish Museum features a permanent exhibition, Mayer Amschel Rothschild & Sohne, together with comprehensive presentations on the history of the Jewish community in Frankfurt and a full programme of changing exhibitions.

Many members of the Rothschild family supported and encouraged nursing and medical institutions in Frankfurt. The project “Jüdische Pflegegeschichte/Jewish Nursing History – Biographies and Institutions in Frankfurt am Main” is devoted to the presentation of the wealth of information related to Jewish nursing history in Frankfurt am Main. The project focuses on the period 1870-1945. This project provides a rich source of information not only for family biographical research as well as scientific research; but also for anyone who is interested in Jewish social and cultural history and in the history of the city of Frankfurt. The project is located at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences.

The website for information about Joram Piatigorsky. Joram Piatigorsky (born February 24, 1940) is an American molecular biologist and eye researcher at the National Institutes of Health. He was a NIH Distinguished Scientist and the founding Chief of the Laboratory of Molecular and Developmental Biology at the National Eye Institute (1981–2009), before stepping down and becoming an NEI Scientist Emeritus. Joram Piatigorsky has published more than 300 scientific articles, reviews and book chapters on vision research, together with a novel, Jellyfish Have Eyes, which forewarns the danger of reducing funding for basic research, and a memoir, The Speed of Dark. He is the son of Gregor Piatigorsky and Jacqueline de Rothschild.

The Kitchener Collection, held in the Archive & Reference Library at Milton Keynes City Discovery Centre contains over 1,500 glass negatives and photographic prints taken by commercial photographer Maurice Kitchener between 1920 and 1940. The photographic archive is a fascinating insight into the local area in the early 20th century, and inlcudes photographs of the Rothschild estate, Ascott House, and the village of Wing.

The John Galway Foster Human Rights Trust was formed in 1986 by Dame Miriam Rothschid, Sir Isaiah Berlin and Lord Lester of Herne Hill in memory of John Foster KBE, QC. In 2006 the name of the trust was altered to include that of Miriam Rothschild. The Trust sponsors an annual lecture, and its work is unique in that there is no similar lecture promoted in the field of human rights.

The National Library of Austria has digitised many of its collections, including a large number of publications, pamphlets and other published documents that make reference to activities of the Rothschild family. Using 'Rothschild' as a search term brings up over 1,800 digitised documents; the search can then be further refined.

The oldest racing establishment in the world, The Palace House Stable played the crucial part in preserving Newmarket as a training centre in the middle of the 1850s and continues to maintain a great sporting tradition. The Palace House estate was purchased by Baron Mayer de Rothschild (1818-1874), a keen hunter and sportsman. Palace house was inherited by his nephew, Leopold de Rothschild (1845-1917). Leopold's most famous success came in 1904, when St. Amant won The Derby. The stable passed into the hands of his son, Anthony de Rothschild (1887-1961). The Rothschilds sold the property in the 1980s. Today, Palace House is home to three charities: The National Horseracing Museum, The British Sporting Art Trust and Retraining of Rachorses who have come together to create a National Heritage Centre, offering visitors a top attraction to visit in suffolk.The National Horseracing Museum currently occupies the building that was once known as the Subscription Rooms of the Jockey Club.  The British Sporting Art Trust was established in 1977 to promote interest in sporting art and to build a representative collection for public exhibition. Retraining of Racehorses is British horseracing’s official charity for the welfare of horses who have retired from racing. It is one of the most prominent British equine charities.

The Colburn School, Los Angeles houses the Piatigorsky Archives, the core of which is the personal collection of one of the great musical artists of the 20th century, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky (1903–1976). Located inside the Colburn Library, the collection includes music manuscripts in Piatigorsky’s own hand, scores, audio recordings, photographs, books, clippings, and programs. Other documents include Piatigorsky’s letters home while on tour, drafts of his autobiography, and letters from the greatest performers and composers of the day. Gregor Piatigorsky was the second husband of Jacqueline de Rothschild (1911-2012).

The Picpus, Walled Garden of Memory: Digital Archive is sponsored by the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Florence Gould Foundation and the Alumnae Association of Northwestern University. The Hôpital Fondation Rothschild, Rue Picpus, Paris was founded by James Rothschild in 1852, and his descendanst continued to support the hosital until well into the 20th century. The digital archive explores the Picpus Cemetery in Paris, expanding research material compiled for the making of the award-winning documentary "Picpus, Walled Garden of Memory." The film is a study of the historical Picpus Cemetery, the site of a mass grave of some 1300 victims of the Reign of Terror in 1794, and the burial site of General Lafayette. It also investigates the collusion of Vichy France with Nazi Germany; the Rothschild Hospital, which shares a common wall with Picpus, was transformed into a prison hospital for French and European Jews, incarcerated there before their eventual deportation to death camps.

The Photo Seed website features information and images about early fine-art photography, including information about the Viennese Camera Club. Nathaniel (1836-1905) and Albert (1844-1911) von Rothschild were both members of the Club and both published their work. The website has images of their work, and a digitised copy of the portfolio 'Amateur Kunst' that were published on behalf of the Club in 1891, featuring images by Albert, Nathaniel and many other contributors.

The 'History of Ceylon Tea' Project is a tribute to those who developed the Ceylon tea industry. The project website contains many useful resources for the study of the tea industry. Maurice Worms, a cousin of the English Rothschilds was arguably the first person to introduce tea to Ceylon with samplings from China being experimented with in 1841. However, due to high production costs and labour issues, and with coffee thriving at the time, tea failed to gain a foot-hold. Nonetheless, the Worms brothers went on to establish one of the largest coffee, and later tea plantation proprietorships in the island with a portfolio of more than 2,000 acres in coffee and tea, and 6,000 acres of jungle. The brothers were famed for their efficiency and competency and were held up as the role models of the plantation industry. The brothers were also famous for their philanthropy across the island. 

As the government's national archive for England, Wales and the United Kingdom, The National Archives holds over 1,000 years of the nation's records. The collection includes papers filed in the public domain relating to wills, legacy duties and other estate matters concerning deceased members of the Rothschild family. Other papers concerning the Rothschild family and business will be found in records of the Dominions Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office, records of the Exchequer, records of the Home Office; records of the Royal Mint; records of H M Treasury; records of the War Office; records of the Office of Works; and records of the British Museum. Genealogists seeking information about Rothschild employees at their many estates and residences may find entries in the relevant census returns.

The National Trust protects some of the most important historic places and spaces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The National Trust's portfolio of properties includes two houses created by the Rothschilds; Waddesdon Manor, the French-style country house in Buckinghamshire created by Ferdinand de Rothschild in the 1870s, and given to the nation by James and Dorothy de Rothschild in 1957, and Ascott House in Buckinghamshire, the country house created by Lionel de Rothschild in th 1870s, and given to the nation in 1950 by Anthony Gustav de Rothschild.

The National Trust: Waddesdon Manor »

The National Trust: Ascott »

The personal museum created by Walter, 2nd Lord Rothschild in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is now part of The Natural History Museum. Many of his specimens are still on display in the Victorian style galleries, and archive material is held at The Natural History Museum in London.

The memorial gardens to the south of Zichron Ya'acov, where Baron Edmond de Rothschild and his wife Adelheid are buried, form the heart of an important programme of ecological and horticultural research.

Ramat Hanadiv is a living memorial to Baron Edmond de Rothschild, containing Memorial Gardens, a Nature Park and a Visitors Pavilion. Their website inlcudes information about Baron Edmond and his work.

The Primrose family - earls of Rosebery - can be first traced back to 1490. Dalmeny House remains to this day the family home. The politican, collector and historian Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery (1847-1929) married Hannah Rothschild (1851-1890), the only daughter of Mayer de Rothschild. Together they built on the astounding collection of art and fine furniture which her father, Mayer de Rothschild, had begun at Mentmore Towers; their letters and diaries reveal a great happiness in seeking out new treasures together. At the death of the 6th Earl of Rosebery in 1974, it became necessary to sell Mentmore Towers and most of its contents to pay death duties. Many of the best objects, however, including the contents of the Drawing Room and the porcelain, were brought  to Dalmeny House to complement the Rosebery collection already there. The Rosebery estates website contains information about the Rosebery estates and the family history and collections.

Lord Rothschild’s family supports three philanthropic trusts: The Rothschild Foundation focusses solely on the UK and spans a wide range of charitable activities including the arts, heritage and culture; health care and medical research; social welfare and human rights; housing; conservation and horticulture. In Israel, Yad Hanadiv, continues support for Jewish revival in Palestine begun by Baron Edmond de Rothschild in the second half of the 19th century. In addition to its diverse grantmaking, Yad Hanadiv funds the operation of the Ramat Hanadiv Nature Park and Memorial Gardens. The Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe supports initiatives across Europe and continues the family's philanthropic commitment to Jewish causes. 

The RIBA was founded in 1834 for ‘…the general advancement of Civil Architecture, and for promoting and facilitating the acquirement of the knowledge of the various arts and sciences connected therewith…’. The RIBA Archive contains many papers concerning architects who carried out private and business commissions for the Rothschilds. RIBApix contains images of properties in Rushbrooke village, Ascott House, Waddesdon Manor.

Go to RIBApix »

The Royal Mint is the world's leading export mint, making coins and medals for an average of 60 countries every year. However, its first responsibility is to make and distribute United Kingdom coins as well as to supply blanks and official medals. The Royal Mint is a government owned company. The Royal Mint Museum has a collection of British coins of unrivalled importance. It sheds light not just on the coins as issued but also, through a unique collection of trial and experimental pieces, artwork and equipment, on their design and manufacture.

The Wiener Holocaust Library is one of the world's leading and most extensive archives on the Holocaust and Nazi era.  Formed in 1933, the Library's unique collection of over one million items includes published and unpublished works, press cuttings, photographs and eyewitness testimony. The Wiener Holocaust Library has been collecting material related to the Holocaust, its causes and legacies since 1933. It's holdings contain approximately 70,000 books and pamphlets, 2,000 physical document collections, 45,000 photographs and 3,000 periodical titles (including 110 current subscriptions), 1 million press cuttings, as well as posters, objects, artworks, digital collections, and audiovisual materials.

In November 2021, The Wiener Holocaust Museum launched a new digital 'Refugee Map' where you can explore hundreds of refugee stories from Library’s family paper collections and follow the lives of individuals and families who fled Nazi persecution through unique and irreplaceable documents. This new digital resource can be found here » 

David de Rothschild, the youngest son of Sir Evelyn de Rothschild is an adventurer, ecologist, and environmentalist. He heads Sculpt the Future Foundation, a charity that promotes positive environmental change towards global sustainability by supporting creative, innovative and sustainable action. 

This Madrid-based organisation promotes the preservation of material relating to the development of the railway network in Spain and encourages research into the subject. Among its archival holdings are records of the Rothschild company that managed the Madrid-Zaragoza-Alicante lines.

The Stadt-und Universitatsbibliothek, Frankfurt am Main houses the former Carl von Rothschild Free Public Library, with a strong collection of works in the arts and humanities. The Library subscribed to an international newspaper cuttings service, which ensured that a copy of every 'Rothschild' article was sent to the Frankfurt Library. The collection, which has been digitised includes over 20,000 cuttings covering 1886-1928.

Website of the villa Ile-de-France (now a museum) and the gardens created by Baroness (Charlotte) Beatrice Ephrussi de Rothschild (1863-1934).

The impressive villa was designed by Aaron Messiah, a local architect. Between 1905 and 1912 Béatrice worked closely with the architect to produce a partly Italianate, partly Spanish villa with a pink and white façade and red pantiles. Each room was arranged specifically to show off her collection of objets d’art to their best advantage. The drawing-room was Louis XV style and the dining-room was Gothic, while all the other rooms were Regency. The gardens surrounding the house were particularly beautiful, and were laid in varying styles to include a Spanish, Florentine, stone, Japanese, English and French garden. However, the overall effect was more of a museum than a domestic house, and Béatrice rarely lived there. When Béatrice died in 1934, she left the house complete with contents and gardens to the Académie des Beaux-Arts.

Waddesdon Manor, the magnificent chateau created in the 19th century by Ferdinand de Rothschild, is home to an outstanding collection of fine and decorative arts. The Manor is set in extensive grounds with rose garden, aviary and formal parterre.

In 1973 the Duke of Wellington founded The Waterloo Committee following a successful joint effort with Lord Anglesey to stop the building of a motorway across the battlefield in Belgium. Since then the Waterloo Committee has continued to preserve and enhance the battlefield, encourage historical research and promote public education and appreciation of the history of the wars between Great Britain, her allies, and France. With the bi-centenary of that battle of 1815 this year, a commemorative Committee has been established, ‘Waterloo 200’.

Waterloo 200 Ltd is an umbrella organisation approved and supported by Government to oversee the celebration of the 200th annivesary of the Battle of Waterloo. It can bestow official status upon organisations that it feels would make a valuable contribution to the celebrations and, indeed, the general good of the countries involved. Visit the 'Waterloo 200' website to find out more about Waterloo events and activities in 2015, and information about this historic event.

In May 1912, Charles Rothschild held a meeting to discuss his radical idea about saving places for nature. This meeting led to the formation of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, which would become the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts, and signalled the beginning of UK nature conservation as we know it. The Society worked hard to secure Government protection for sites across the UK they considered ‘worthy of preservation’, but it was not until the 1940s that nature conservation made it onto the statute with the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act in 1949. There are now 47 Wildlife Trusts covering the whole of the UK, the Isle of Man and Alderney.

The Trusts hold material relating to Charles Rothschild’s activities in establishing the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves. Note: this material has now been deposited with The Rothschild Archive London; the collection has been digitised by The Wildlife Trusts and is available on The Wildlife Trusts website.

The Vitkovice (or Witkowitz) ironworks were bought by Salomon von Rothschild in 1843. It was Salomon's involvement with Austrian railways that first led the family into an interest in iron and steel production. After the Second World War, the new Czechoslovak Government nationalised the works. The business today is run as the Vitkovice Machinery Group. The company website gives historical information about the works, together with information about the company archive, museum and artwork collections. 

World Jewish Relief - formerly the Central British Fund (CBF) rescued 65,000 people from Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, including 10,000 through the Kindertransport.

The CBF Archives, containing the records of 35,000 people, have now been digitised. These files are a set of individual stories, including birth certificates, immigration papers, school records, and many more of people brought to the UK by World Jewish Relief. 

Yerusha is an initiative of the Rothschild Foundation (Hanadiv) Europe that will become a major hub for European Jewish and Jewish-related archival material. As scholars and researchers will attest, millions of pages of documents written in dozens of languages are stored in hundreds of archives worldwide bearing witness to the variety and importance of Jewish life in Europe. Yerusha will create an online portal and database that will provide a single, searchable reference point for all such sources.