Rothschild On-Line: Victor Gray, Director of the Rothschild Archive, Introduces a New Website That Will Prove a Invaluable Resource for All Students of Economic, and Social History, and More Besides. (Frontline)

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ROTHSCHILD is ONE OF THOSE names that echoes through many chambers of history. As the world's leading bankers in the nineteenth century their history is intertwined with that of most European countries and many further afield. As some of the most ambitious patrons and collectors of art, they have left their mark on the history of collecting. As builders and occupiers of some seventy mansions, from Buckinghamshire to Naples, their architectural legacy is a source of constant study and their visitors' lists a subject of great interest. As philanthropists, they have contributed to the development of medical and social care in many corners of the world. As natural historians they have published hundreds of papers in scientific journals. They have built railways and bridges, from Rio de Janeiro to Japan via Hungary and South Africa.

Small wonder, then, that the family and their …