The Thesaurus of the Victorian Water Closet (1837-1901) was created by the Victorian Library of the British National Heritage Trust (Bath, England). 
The Trust is a registered charity partially funded by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and generously supported by its large membership, numbering over 2.1 million. 

A division of the Trust, the Victorian Library was founded in 1975 by Sir Robert Stephen Dwelling, Lady Octavia Pedestal, and Sir Cameron Flusher, three philanthropists committed to preserving the history of the Victorian Era home and maintaining for posterity a resource collection that would support authentic restoration and scholarly research. The Library is generously funded by the Trust and generates additional revenue through fee-based services. 

Sir Siphon Stooly
Reflecting the passionate interests and original intentions of its founders, the Victorian Library's collection is rich in resource materials pertaining to the Victorian Era home. In 1998, this collection was greatly enriched when the Library became the recipient of an extremely valuable collection bequeathed by Sir Siphon Stooly, a long standing member and benefactor of the Trust and the passionate sponsor of the renovation of many prize Victorian Era buildings throughout Britain. Sir Stooly, throughout his lifetime, had a particular fascination with the array and fine artistry of sanitation devices used in Victorian homes and developed a most remarkable collection of documents detailing this specialized subject. It is the Library's hope that The Stooly Collection will serve as a permanent testament to the vast philanthropy and great personal passions of this unique man.

The Thesaurus of the Victorian Water Closet (1837-1901)
In 1998 the Library committed to the creation of a thesaurus to facilitate the  indexing of the Stooly Collection documents, and access to them by historical renovation specialists and scholars. At this time, the School of Library, Archive and Information Studies (SLAIS) at the University College London , whose facilities had been renovated during the early 1990s through the patronage of Sir Stooly, expressed an interest in participating in this indexing project. It was evident that this project represented a meaningful opportunity for collaboration between the Victorian Library staff and Masters students at SLAIS.  It was determined that the Thesaurus would be completed by SLAIS students (in collaboration with Chief Librarian Lou Privy) as a practicum project. The direct responsibility for the Thesaurus' construction was given to visiting Commonwealth Scholars Paul Hebbard, Martin Walters, and Merinda McLure, on exchange from The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia, Canada, during the fall of 1999. The indexing of the Stooly Collection was undertaken during practicum periods in the summer and fall of 2000 by SLAIS (London) students. 

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This site was created by Paul Hebbard, Merinda McLure and Martin Walters to fulfill requirements for Assignment #1 in LIBR 512: Indexing at The School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, The University of British Columbia. References to real or fictitious names/places/people are only for the purposes of the Assignment. No connection between the site's content and the realities of these names/places/people is intended.

Created using Netscape Communicator 4.7 during February 2001.