Carole Smith Archive

Correspondence, diaries, artwork and other documents relating to Carole Smith, nee Gilbert, her husband Lewis Smith, and other members of Carole Smith’s family.

Carole Yvonne Smith, nee Gilbert, was born on 11 April 1951 in Dartmouth, Devon, to Michael Fleming Gilbert and his wife Constance Jean Dennis.
Educated at Nailsea Grammar School, she went on to study History of Art at the University of Manchester 1969-1972 and then attended Leeds Library School from 1973-1974. In 1972 she married teacher Lewis Sydney Smith.
Carole Smith and her husband subsequently moved to York where she began a lengthy career as a librarian. From 1974-1977 Smith worked at Dringhouses, Acomb and York Central Library, followed by a year cataloguing the Toynbee collection at the J.B. Morrell Library at the University of York. From 1978-1980 Smith undertook a 2 year British Library research project on information sources in the humanities, in conjunction with the J.B. Morrell Library and the university History Department. Between 1988 and 1991 she was university subject librarian for sociology and social services.
In 1991 Smith moved to Cambridge where she worked first at Gonville and Caius College Library and then at the University Library until 2005 when she returned to York.
Since 2006 Smith has been active in York civic life, as clerk to the Trustees of Wandesford House (an almshouse charity) from 2006 and as Vice-Chair of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society from 2006 and editor of the society’s annual report. She also produced an updated edition of ‘The Almshouses of York’ in 2010, based on research originally carried out by York publisher William Kaye Sessions in the 1940s.

Records are open to the public, subject to the overriding provisions of relevant legislation, including data protection laws. 24 hours' notice is required to access photographic material.

The archive was gifted to the Borthwick in October 2016. A further addition was made to the archive in November 2019.

Carole Yvonne Smith, nee Gilbert, was born on 11 April 1951 in Dartmouth, Devon, to Michael Fleming Gilbert and his wife Constance Jean Dennis.
Educated at Nailsea Grammar School, she went on to study History of Art at the University of Manchester 1969-1972 and then attended Leeds Library School from 1973-1974. In 1972 she married teacher Lewis Sydney Smith.
Carole Smith and her husband subsequently moved to York where she began a lengthy career as a librarian. From 1974-1977 Smith worked at Dringhouses, Acomb and York Central Library, followed by a year cataloguing the Toynbee collection at the J.B. Morrell Library at the University of York. From 1978-1980 Smith undertook a 2 year British Library research project on information sources in the humanities, in conjunction with the J.B. Morrell Library and the university History Department. Between 1988 and 1991 she was university subject librarian for sociology and social services.
In 1991 Smith moved to Cambridge where she worked first at Gonville and Caius College Library and then at the University Library until 2005 when she returned to York.
Since 2006 Smith has been active in York civic life, as clerk to the Trustees of Wandesford House (an almshouse charity) from 2006 and as Vice-Chair of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society from 2006 and editor of the society’s annual report. She also produced an updated edition of ‘The Almshouses of York’ in 2010, based on research originally carried out by York publisher William Kaye Sessions in the 1940s.

This archive has not yet been catalogued. A partial boxlist is available, please contact the Borthwick Institute for more information.

Created by S.A. Shearn, 11/01/21

A reprographics service is available to researchers subject to the access restrictions outlined above. Copying will not be undertaken if there is any risk of damage to the document. Copies are supplied in accordance with the Borthwick Institute for Archives' terms and conditions for the supply of copies, and under provisions of any relevant copyright legislation. Permission to reproduce images of documents in the custody of the Borthwick Institute must be sought.

Further accruals are not expected.

Published

GB193