Papua New Guinea at 50: the papers of Francis West
Earlier this month, on 16th September 2025, Papua New Guinea celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence. Prior to 1975, the Territory of Papua and […]
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The Bible Society’s First Mexican Gospels and the Polyglot Scot Who Would Learn Nahuatl
This post is by Munby Fellow in Bibliography Dr Joshua Fitzgerald. Joshua is an ethnohistorian researching Nahua (commonly “Aztec”) history, art and cultural heritage, especially […]
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Correspondence of Walter Buchanan-Smith from Borneo and Nigeria
Walter Buchanan-Smith (1879-1944) was in many ways an archetypal British colonial administrator: privately educated, a keen sportsman, a lover of dogs and ponies, and quickly […]
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Lessons from Lesotho
‘It’s in our hands as librarians, as archivists and library directors […] It’s in your hands.’ This was the call to action issued by Dr […]
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“Messing about in boats”: four Cambridge University Cruising Club logbooks, 1888-1902
Post by Sam Evans (Assistant Archivist, Archives & Modern Manuscripts) The Cambridge University Cruising Club was founded on 20 May 1893 ‘to encourage amateur sailing, […]
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Archives and Modern Manuscripts Image of the Month: John Wolley’s great auk egg
In 1858 two ornithologists, John Wolley and Alfred Newton, travelled to Iceland in the hope of seeing a flightless seabird, the elusive great auk. Both […]
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The Lakenheath Peace Poster and the Lakenheath Branch of the British League of Nations
Guest post by David Jones (Lakenheath Heritage Group) This is an account of how an historic poster came into the possession of the Lakenheath Heritage […]
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‘Our singular patron’: Thomas Cromwell and Cambridge University
TV viewers enjoying the tumultuous final episodes of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light may be interested in Thomas Cromwell’s impact on Cambridge in […]
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Archives and Modern Manuscripts Image of the Month: Peter Scott skating with a friend
Taken from one of the diaries of Kathleen Scott, our image this month, apposite for the season, shows Kathleen’s son Peter ice skating with a […]
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Archives and Modern Manuscripts Image of the Month: Pagoda at Pa-Li-Chuang
Constance Gordon-Cumming drew this image of a pagoda for an article she published in The English Illustrated Magazine in 1888 entitled ‘Pagodas, Aurioles and Umbrellas.’ […]
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