The Folklore Library and Archive is a charity based in Crediton, Devon, dedicated to collecting and preserving folklore and heritage materials that relate to our customs and traditional ways of life. We have a reference library of over 2,000 books, hundreds of journals and periodicals, photographs, audio visual materials and artefacts.

Our constitutional aim is to provide free access to our collections for the benefit of the public good. We are one of very few organisations working with folklore material to do this.

Our mission is rooted in the belief that folklore reflects how we, and generations before us have interpreted and navigated the world around us. When traditions and heritage disappear, we lose valuable cultural knowledge. This is why we act quickly to save at-risk materials. For example, when the document archive of folklorist Venetia Newell was sold off in parts, we led a successful crowdfunding campaign to acquire and preserve it, hosting online talks that featured libraries, museums and archives.

Our physical library and archive is open to the public two days a week at the moment. Our aim is to open full time, alongside digitising more and more materials for those who cannot visit us in person.

It costs us approximately £10,000 a year to pay for our building and online archives. Thank you for any contribution you can make to help us keep going.