The John Stuart Mill Library
We are proud to own the John Stuart Mill Library. In 1905 John Stuart Mill’s step daughter, Helen Taylor, left what remained of her step-father’s library (c. 2,000 volumes) to Somerville College to be used by undergraduates in their studies. For the next sixty years the collection was on open shelves for the use of students and it was not until the 1960s that it was decided to gather all JSM’s books together in a closed collection. The books reflect his varied interests and range in subject from political theory through literature to natural science and mathematics.
Many of the books belonged to JSM’s father, the political writer James Mill, and contain annotations from both men. A project was carried out by Robert Fenn in the 1980s to identify books with marginalia. Though never published, his notes are available for consultation in the library. More recently, the college has partnered with Professor Albert Pionke at the University of Alabama on a project to digitise the marginalia and make it freely available. Results to date have been published by Professor Pionke and his team on the Mill Marginalia Online website.
The books are not catalogued on the University union catalogue SOLO, but are listed here: JS Mill Library (pdf 208 kb). Visitors wishing to consult the library for research purposes should make an appointment with the Librarian.
Present your paper at Multidisciplinary Mill(s), a one-day conference, on 20th May 2025.
To find out more, including how to submit a paper and by when, visit the conference web page.