Help us open the doors to the Boleskine Library
We're building a research library on esotericism and Scottish heritage — from scratch, with no staff and no catalogue yet. We need 300 founding members to bring it to life. This is your chance to be counted among the first.
This is a kickstart campaign, not a finished service. Read exactly what you get now, and what your membership unlocks, below.
Founding Member
"We told our members what we would build with their support — and we built it."
Boleskine House stands today because members believed in the Foundation before the work was finished, and the Foundation delivered on what it promised. That's the same trust we're asking you to place in us now.
Now we're asking you to take the next journey with us: establishing the most unique library in Scotland, and the largest publicly accessible esoteric collection in the UK.
Every founding member isn't just funding a library. You're helping open up Scottish heritage and the study of esotericism to a much wider public — through curated exhibitions, talks, and a collection people can actually visit and use, made possible because people like you believed in the vision.
We're asking you to fund something before it fully exists
The collection at Boleskine House deserves a proper library — catalogued, staffed, and open to researchers. We don't have that yet. Here's exactly where things stand.
What we don't have yet: a completed catalogue, a dedicated librarian, or the systems to run bookings or scans at scale. Everything on our future list depends on getting there.
What founding membership does: your subscription is the funding that lets us hire a dedicated member of staff once we reach 300 members — the person who will catalogue the collection and actually deliver the services below.
Three things we can offer today
No waiting list, no conditions on these three — everything else on this page is what your membership is building toward.
The Digital Library
Every annual journal from 2019 to 2025, online in full, in the members' area. Out-of-copyright works from the collection will be added as they're digitised.
A place in the Founding Members' book
Your name is entered into a dedicated book of founding members, kept and displayed in the Library at Boleskine House — a permanent record of who made this possible.
Scans from the catalogue
A selective number of scans from the collection, subject to copyright, allocated by a volunteer as time allows. This grows once the full catalogue is live — but we'll begin where we can.
The catalogue drawer of what comes next
These are the services your membership is funding. Every one depends on reaching our funding target, so we can catalogue the collection and hire a librarian. They'll be introduced in phases once we get there.
On-site research access
Book time to study the collection at Boleskine House, by appointment, with a librarian present.
on funding
Curated library events
Online and in-person events led by the librarian on duty, drawn from the collection.
on funding
Scans on request
Scans of catalogue books provided to members, subject to copyright clearance.
on funding
More of the Digital Library
Out-of-copyright works from the collection, digitised and added alongside the journals already online.
on funding
Academic talks
Online and in-person talks on material in the library — esotericism and Scottish heritage.
on funding
Founding members, counted as they join
At 300 members, we can hire a dedicated member of staff to catalogue the collection and begin delivering everything above.
Every founding member moves this number forward. There's no separate stretch goal and no reward tiers beyond membership itself — just one target, and everything unlocks at once.
Choose how you join
Library and Membership (Full) both count toward our 300 founding members target. Here's how they compare.
Library
or £111 a year
- The Digital Library: every annual journal online
- Entry in the Founding Members' book
- Scans as volunteer capacity allows
- First access to every library service as it launches
- Free visits to the house, the printed annual journal, Members' News and newsletter, 10% off in the shop
Membership (Full)
£20 if joined separately
or £207 a year · the House and the Digital Library, for £2 a month less than both separately
- Unlimited free visits to the house, plus one guest
- Printed journal (annual) & seasonal newsletter
- The House: the Boleskine Talks, videos and member posts
- The Digital Library: every annual journal online
- 10% discount on merchandise
- Entry in the Founding Members' book
- Scans as volunteer capacity allows
Just want to visit the House? See Membership →
Already a Member? Upgrade to Membership (Full) on the same account. Sign in to upgrade →
Questions worth asking
Yes — Boleskine House itself was restored with the support of members who backed the Foundation's plans before the work was finished. This library campaign follows the same principle: we tell you what your contribution funds, and we deliver it.
We're borrowing the idea, not the platform. It means exactly what it sounds like: your membership funds the starting conditions — a catalogue and a librarian — for a service that doesn't exist yet.
We'll keep delivering what we can with volunteer capacity — the Founding Members' book and scans as time allows — and keep you updated on progress toward the target.
Once we reach 300 founding members and can hire a dedicated member of staff, work begins on completing the catalogue and rolling out services in phases. We'll share a clear timeline once hiring is underway.
Yes. Monthly and annual subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. However, to earn a place in our Founding Members book, your subscription must be active at the time we reach our target.
Not yet. On-site research begins once founding membership has funded a librarian. After that, like any special collection, it will be by appointment only, with a librarian present. The library isn't open to walk-ins, including during your free visits to the House.
Every scan request is checked against copyright before it's fulfilled. Some material in the collection can't be reproduced, and we'll always tell you why if that's the case.
Be one of the first names in the book
Join as a founding member for £10 a month — or get the House and the Digital Library together with Membership (Full) for just £8 more.