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Found just a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street Station, the Bishopsgate Institute is a community learning centre that founded by educational reformer Reverend William Rogers, Rector of St Botolph's Church in the City of London in the late nineteenth century. Its Grade-II listed building was ‘erected for the benefit of the public’ in 1894, with the motto ‘I never stop learning’, and has been housing local archives and hosting talks, discussions and educational courses for adults in the area ever since.
Under the leadership of Special Collections and Archives Manager Stef Dickers, in recent years it has become best known for its sizeable archives documenting LGBTQ+ London and the city’s histories of protest and activism, having become home to the Lesbian and Gay Newsmedia Archive in 2011. This collection alone holds 350,000 press cuttings, while the photographic archives house 500,000 images, and the London collection features more than 150,000 books, pamphlets, maps and photographs of the city.
Educational events at the Institute encompass everything from exercise and dance classes to creative writing courses, history talks and archive tours.