Cambridge University Library – Cambridge University Library Special Collections

Ladies in the Library

Posted on 22 January 2025 by Jill Whitelock

January 1855. The British coalition government was in crisis over accusations of mismanagement in the Crimean war. In the literary world, the final installment of […]

Anniversaries, Cambridge University history, Library history, Photographs, women

Archives and Modern Manuscripts Image of the Month – Book storage tunnels under the Senate House lawn

Posted on 1 May 2024 by Jacky Cox

By the time the decision was taken in March 1921 to build an entirely new home for the University Library west of the river, several […]

Archives, Cambridge University Archives, Special Collections

Culinary inspiration and dietary counsel from the Curious Cures project

Posted on 22 December 2023 by Special Collections

Have you ever wondered what food and drink medieval people enjoyed during Christmastime?

Curious Cures, Manuscripts, Special Collections

The Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project: A final farewell from the Conservation Team

Posted on 19 May 2022 by CUL Conservation

Conservation work on the Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project was completed way back in 2021 but our conservators have recently taken the time to reflect […]

Collection Care, Conservation, Digitisation, Greek, Manuscripts, Medieval manuscripts, Polonsky Greek, Special Collections

Conservation for a Legendary Exhibition

Posted on 20 April 2022 by CUL Conservation

Cambridge University Library is home to one of the pre-eminent collections of Japanese material outside of Japan, including one of the first Japanese books ever to reach British shores. In […]

Conservation, Exhibitions, Japanese, Manuscripts, Rare Books, Special Collections

Conservation of a Bound Volume of Letters from the Darwin Archive

Posted on 19 January 2022 by CUL Conservation

This volume was kindly donated to the Library in 2018 and comprises 80 letters all of which were sent to William Kemp, an amateur geologist, […]

Archives, Cambridge Digital Library, Conservation, Darwin Correspondence Project, Digitisation, Exhibitions, Manuscripts

Turning over a new leaf: Fasciculing fragile letters and plant specimens in the Darwin Archive

Posted on 13 October 2021 by CUL Conservation

The Darwin Archive contains a wide variety of loose sheet papers, often in diverse formats and frequently found in specific combinations. Letters are kept together […]

Archives, Conservation, Darwin Correspondence Project, Special Collections

The abandoned library

Posted on 7 May 2021 by Jill Whitelock

On 7 May 1921, a hundred years ago today, the University of Cambridge took a momentous decision. After decades of debate and controversy, it finally […]

Library history

The Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project: The conservators’ challenge – Part 1

Posted on 12 December 2019 by CUL Conservation

The Polonsky Foundation Greek Manuscripts Project has been a great support in encouraging continued professional development within the project. In this blog post we will […]

Collection Care, Conservation, Digitisation, Greek, Manuscripts, Medieval manuscripts, Polonsky Greek, Special Collections

The Installation of Prince Albert at Cambridge

Posted on 5 July 2019 by Ian Pittock

The Map Department contains many views, which offer great insight into the living experiences, events and environment of the time and place shown. While recently […]

Anniversaries, Maps, Special Collections