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Published: 17 June 2010
by CHARLOTTE CHAMBERS

WHEN Richard Knight started working as a local history librarian in 1976, London was in the grip of a long hot summer and Jim Callaghan had just moved in at No 10.

When Mr Knight took early retirement last month, 33 years later, the country was in the grip of another political shake-up – although the weather was a little bit patchier. 

The library service has been on the receiving end of cuts more than once over the years – and is currently facing a dramatic overhaul – but Mr Knight will be remembered as a consistent face.

Under his management, the local studies and archive centre at Holborn Library doubled in size and experienced a massive increase in people coming through its doors.

In three decades, the collection mushroomed from 100,000 items to roughly 200,000, and a new illustration department was created, which contains an ongoing record of every street in the borough. 

Mr Knight said one reason for the increase lay with television programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are?, which had struck a chord with the public.

“These programmes on TV are good as they encourage people to take an interest in research and archives and family history, which can only be a good thing,” he said.

“Wanting to know about your family leads to knowing about the area they are from, which leads to an interest in local history.”

During his time at the archives centre, Mr Knight took part in the King’s Cross Voices project, which made recordings of stories about King’s Cross told by the people who have lived there, and staged various exhibitions, including one in 1991 when Camden Town was 200 years old.

“My days would vary a lot,” he said, speaking from his home in Berkshire, where he now plans to spend more time with his family.

“Obviously it also changed a lot over the years. I would spend part of the day answering enquiries face to face, emails or phone calls, prepare for a talk or an exhibition. I didn’t spend too much time cataloguing but was responsible for developing our online archive.”

Mr Knight said he plans to pop back regularly and dedicate more time to the borough’s History Society.

“It’s a really fascinating area, it’s historically interesting and I most enjoyed the people I worked with and the contact with different communities,” he said. “The archives are interesting too, going back to the 17th and even 16th century, to some really old stuff and really modern stuff, from photos to newspapers and maps.”

Mr Knight said gaining funding for projects was always a big part of his role, as was speaking to local groups and trying to put more and more of the archive online.

A modest man, he admitted he was moved by the retirement cards he received.

Mr Knight added: “It makes you realise how much people appreciate what you’ve done. 

“When you get the response from people, that’s when you get the most satisfaction.”