The Royal Cornwall Museum’s Courtney Library has been hailed as one of the UK’s most important research libraries for Cornish history.

Dr David Prosser, executive director of leading industry body, Research Library UK (RLUK), said: "Libraries such as the Courtney Library give us the tools to recreate the past, live well in the present and build the future."

The Courtney Library holds some of the most important collections of Cornish manuscripts anywhere in the world. It also includes steam engine inventor and engineer Richard Trevithick’s original correspondence, and internationally best-selling author, Winston Graham’s original manuscripts written in long-hand.

Academic and author Nicholas Orme, frequent user of museum libraries around the country, said: "I’ve written ten books wholly or partly on Cornish history, and the Courtney Library has been vital to researching every one of them."

The county’s rich history will also be revealed online for the first time with the digitisation of archive photography available at royalcornwallmuseum.org.uk. This digitisation project is designed to support one of the Courtney Library’s core purposes, to work with both local and international partners to advance knowledge and mutual understanding of Cornish culture - past and present.