Our collections
The Rothschild Archive London holds the business records of the London firm of N M Rothschild & Sons, together with some papers of Rothschild banking businesses in Paris and Vienna. Researchers should note that few papers of the Frankfurt, Vienna and Naples banking houses survive. Papers of the Paris banking house are held on deposit with the Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail, Roubaix, France. The Rothschild Archive London holds comparatively few collections of personal papers of members of the Rothschild family.
Conducting research
Researchers wishing to consult material in the Archive should first contact the archivist with details of their research proposal. We strongly suggest that researchers should, in the first instance consult The Guide to the collections of The Rothschild Archive to identify sources of possible interest. The collections are arranged under the following sections:
- The London banking house
- The Frankfurt banking house
- The Paris banking house
- The Vienna banking house
- The Naples banking house
- Rothschild family papers
The Rothschild Research Forum
We ask all researchers wishing to access our more detailed resources online, or those wishing to request an appointment to consult original sources in our Reading Room to first register with The Rothschild Research Forum, providing their contact details, an indication of their research interest and the names and contact details of two academic referees.
Making a research visit booking: The Rothschild Archive London
The Rothschild Archive maintains a research centre in the City of London. Our Reading Room is open to bona fide researchers, by prior appointment only, between 10.00am and 16.15pm, Monday to Friday. UK public holidays are observed. The Archive does not usually close for lunch, although occassionally we may close the Reading Room for an hour in the middle of the day for a private event. Researchers should also note that on rare occasions it may be necessary to close the Reading Room early or at short notice. More about our Reading Room here » The Archive is also closed in the second week of January each year for Stocktaking.
Registered members of the Rothschild Research Forum may request an appointment to visit our Reading Room in the City; To request an appointment, please email us here; it would be helpful if researchers could supply as much information as they are able to about the nature of their research interest. Archive material dated after 1945 is not generally available to researchers; other access restrictions to parts of the collection may apply. Researchers are required to sign a copy of our standard agreement on their first visit. A copy of the text of the current Research Agreement may be found here »
Planning your visit
Researchers intending to visit are advised to contact us well in advance to reserve a place in our Reading Room, as the number of places is limited.
The majority of the collections in London are stored offsite. Researchers are requested to identify material of interest from The Guide to the collections of The Rothschild Archive in advance of their visit, giving us as much notice as possible (and no less than 2 working days) to ensure material can be retrieved.
It is not possible to request bulk orders of large numbers of volumes or boxes; the archivists will advise on what may be consulted at any one time, but as a broad rule, Up to FIVE documents may be produced for Researchers at one time. Researchers may receive further documents upon surrender of items no longer required. (For production purposes, a document may be one file, one box or one volume). Researchers are asked to bear this in mind when planning their research with us, as they may need to make more than one visit in the course of their research.
Making a research visit booking: The Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail, Roubaix
Researchers intending to consult the collections of The Rothschild Archive held on deposit with the Archives Nationales du Monde du Travail, Roubaix, France should first register with The Rothschild Research Forum. Please visit the website of the ANMT for further information about access to these collections here »
All other Enquiries
Researchers may submit their enquiries to us via email. Contact The Rothschild Archive here »
