Tag: History

Banned Books

If you’ve visited the library at Northampton Square recently, you may have noticed our new display of banned books. Throughout history, books have been burned, withdrawn, suppressed, and censored by organisations such as governments and religious institutions. Just last year, the American Library Association documented over 1,200 challenges to books held in libraries and schools,…Continue Reading Banned Books

Reading about LGBT+ lives in February and beyond…

As LGBT+ History Month comes to an end, we want to highlight some of the books chosen by the City community to celebrate and honour LGBT+ lives. You recommended these titles through our Liberating CityLibrary scheme. So far, you’ve recommended page-turning memoirs such as Firebird by Mark Doty and We Have Always Been Here by…Continue Reading Reading about LGBT+ lives in February and beyond…

Life in the Archives and Special Collections

Man in full academic dress stooping in front of a table, being given an award by another man in academic dress who is standing. Two other men in academic dress are sat at the table, another man is stood further away to the left watching.

One of the great things about working with archive materials is never knowing what treasures you might discover in the depths of a storage box untouched by human hand since the dawn of time (well, a few years maybe). Today’s exciting (and timely) find is this photograph which shows Sir David Attenborough receiving an Award…Continue Reading Life in the Archives and Special Collections

The Annual Register: a record of world events

Annual register - basic search 2

The Annual Register is a year-by-year record of British and world events, published annually since 1758. From 1758 to 1789, Edmund Burke was the editor and main contributor to this publication.  The Annual Register, as well as being a record of events, used to include reviews of important books, reproduction of state papers, historical sketches,…Continue Reading The Annual Register: a record of world events

British Periodicals I and II

British Periodicals I and II offers facsimile page images and searchable full text for periodicals published from the seventeenth century through to the twentieth century. Topics covered include literature, music, philosophy, history, science, the fine arts, and the social sciences. You can browse the full list of over 300 periodicals here. You can also create an…Continue Reading British Periodicals I and II

City Archives and Special Collections visits University of London History Day

Banner saying 'Welcome to History Day', with sponsors, web address (historycollections.blogs.sas.ac.uk) and twitter handles (@ihr_history and @SenateHouseLib)

On 27 November, members of the Library Services’ Archives and Special Collections group attended the University of London History Day 2018 at Senate House. This annual one-day event provides an opportunity for information professionals from libraries, archives and research organisations from around the country to meet, discuss their work, and promote their collections to researchers….Continue Reading City Archives and Special Collections visits University of London History Day

CityLibrary makes History

Image of postcards and a bookmark featuring images from the Archive

On Tuesday, November 27th, CityLibrary will take part in History Day for the first time. History Day is an annual event at Senate House bringing together libraries, archives and associated organisations to create a programme of drop-in talks and a fair designed to inspire and support researchers. CityLibrary staff will have a stall in the main…Continue Reading CityLibrary makes History

A witness in the archive: Paris, May 1968

From the archives: 1968 has become synonymous with radicalism.    1968 around the world Around the world, in 1968, people began protesting. Several countries in Eastern Europe experienced major unrest. In Czech, the Prague Spring was a hopeful period of liberalisation, artistic exploration and democratisation. The Civil Rights and Anti-War movements in the US ramped…Continue Reading A witness in the archive: Paris, May 1968

From the archives: Decline and Fall

Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire One of the gems of our rare books collection is a complete copy of Edward Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire which was published in 1789. It’s a six volume work. Each volume is split in two making twelve books in total. The complete work covers the…Continue Reading From the archives: Decline and Fall

From the archive: The Beacon

The Archives Group at City Library are responsible for maintaining and preserving City’s Archives and Special Collections. We are currently working on a number of exciting projects to make the content more accessible to staff, students and external researchers. In our new series From the archive, each month we’ll be selecting a collection from the…Continue Reading From the archive: The Beacon