Introduction
The Kate Sharpley Library exists to preserve and promote anarchisthistory. We preserve the output of the anarchist movement, mainly inthe form of books, pamphlets, newspaper, leaflets and manuscripts butalso badges, recordings, photographs etc. We also have the work ofhistorians and other writers on the anarchist movement.
Wepromote the history of anarchism by publishing studies based on thosematerials - or reprints of original documents taken from ourcollection. These appear in our quarterly bulletin or regularlypublished pamphlets. We have also provided manuscripts to otheranarchist publishers. People come and research in the library, or wecan send out photocopies.
We don't say one strand ofclass-struggle anarchism has all the answers. We don't think anarchismcan be understood by looking at 'thinkers' in isolation. We do thinkthat what previous generations thought and did, what they wanted andhow they tried to get it, is relevant today. We encourage the anarchistmovement to think about its own history - not to live on past gloriesbut to get an extra perspective on current and future dangers andopportunities.
Everything at the Kate Sharpley Library -acquisitions, cataloguing, preservation work, publishing, answering inquiries is done by volunteers: we get no money from governments orthe business community. All our running costs are met by donations(from members of the collective or our subscribers and supporters) orby the small income we make through publishing.
Please consider making adonation orsubscribing to our bulletin.
We have created an online library of our pamphlets and other documents, which we hope to continue adding to.Please do explore.