Literary and Philosophical Society
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The Society was founded early in 1793 as a ‘conversation club’, with an annual subscription of one guinea. The subjects of the conversations - and the books that supported them - were wide-ranging, but religion and politics were prohibited.
From its outset, the Society had an enterprising, inquisitive and liberal nature: the first women members were admitted by 1804, various groundbreaking demonstrations of new technology took place, such as George Stephenson’s miners’ safety lamp in 1815. In 1820, The Newcastle upon Tyne Society for the gradual abolition of Slavery in the British Dominions was established at a meeting held in the Society’s rooms. The society’s lecture theatre was the first public room to be lit by electric light, during a lecture by Sir Joseph Swan on October 20th 1880.
In 1822 the foundation stone of the current building was laid by the Duke of Sussex. The building was finally opened in 1825.
The Lit & Phil houses over 150,000 books and a large comprehensive music library. A wide selection of current fiction and non-fiction can be found alongside historical collections covering every field of interest.
