Collections
The Linnean Society of London is the world’s oldest active biological society and has in its care several important collections, including those of the Swedish botanist, Carl Linnaeus, and the Society’s founder, Sir James Edward Smith.
Designated a collection of outstanding national importance by the Arts Council England in 2014, the holdings of the Linnean Society (which include library, archive and biological specimen material) provide an unsurpassed resource for the study of natural history.
Archives Catalogue Unavailable
We apologise that our online public access archives catalogue will be unavailable from 1 October 2026. This is while we migrate to a new platform. We hope to restore access in a few weeks.
Please contact the Collections Team in the meantime if you wish to locate or consult archives material.
Our library catalogue and digitised online collections are unaffected.
We apologise for this inconvenience, and thank you for your patience.
The Library and Archives are open Tuesdays–Fridays, 10:00–17:00.
To book a space in our library for quiet study, or to access our collections for research, please email library@linnean.org. To allow adequate time to retrieve material, we ask that appointments are made at least 48 hours in advance, if possible.
Visits to our biological specimen collections must be overseen by our honorary curators, who work at other institutions. If you wish to arrange such a visit, please contact the Collections team at least a fortnight in advance.
