Russell Institution

[1] The Institution was formed, somewhat opportunistically, to provide a revenue-paying purpose for an assembly hall which had been constructed in Coram Street, north of new housing around Bloomsbury Square.

[1] The objects of the Institution were the "gradual formation of a library, consisting of the most useful works in ancient and modern literature; the establishment of a reading room provided with the best foreign and English journals, and the periodical publications, and lectures on literary and scientific subjects.

In order to fund the institution's ongoing expenses and provide some guarantee of stability, subscribers paid a guinea per annum.

[1] The Institution was relatively long-lived; periodic mentions of it are found in the literature, such as a report of 1851 lectures there by Charles Richard Weld; an observation in Frederick Miller's 1874 St Pancras – Past and Present noting that some of the premises had been given over to a wine merchant, but that the library continued to receive daily papers, and monthly and annual journals.

The Institution survived until near the end of the century; the Post Office listed it in an 1881 directory, but it is found missing in the 1891 counterpart.