Angus Library and Archive

This volume of pamphlets by Henry Layton, author of works on the soul's immortality once belonged to the great philosopher John Locke & is now in the Angus.
In a 1702 letter, Layton thanked Locke for the 'easie reception of my book' & Locke notes that the book is the authors gift, ex dono authoris.

We are delighted to announce that the Baptist Times and the Baptist Union Handbooks have now been digitised and are available online at Find My Past www.findmypast.co.uk and the British Newspapers Archive www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Happy searching!

The Angus Library will close temporarily from January - October 2026 to all visitors & enquirers.
Temporary closure will enable us to carry out important tasks & reopen next year providing an even better service & protecting & promoting our amazing collections.
theangus.rpc.ox.ac.uk/temporary-cl...

Secrets of Success: the church that served a plantation remains a monument of resistance Amid the site in rural Jamaica that once belonged to a Guardian financier may lie a treasure trove of artefacts that tell the story of Britain’s history of colonisation and enslavement

We are proud to hold material relating to the heroes Thomas Burchell, Baptist missionary & builder of Gurney's Mount BC & Sam Sharpe, Baptist Deacon & leader of the 1831 Baptist Uprising www.theguardian.com/world/2025/a...

It's not too late to register for the next Friends of the Angus online talk on April 2nd, when Paloma Miravet Llorens will be speaking on gender and agency in colonial societies (Fernando Po, 19th century), in 'We the principal inhabitants of this town'.

You are warmly invited to join us on the 2nd of April, for the next online 'Opening the Angus' seminar when Paloma Miravet Llorens will be giving her talk on gender and agency in colonial societies (Fernando Po, 19th century), 'We the principal inhabitants of this town'.

www.oxfam.org.uk/media/press-...
An amazing story about a rare find - the beautiful Bible translated into Chinese by Baptist Missionary Joshua Marshman & the Armenian translator Johannes Lassar, who was fluent in Chinese. What an incredible discovery !

David Smith MP 🌹 on X: "It was a pleasure to visit Regent’s Park College, Oxford today to discuss Freedom of Religion or Belief. Especially as I got to see original pamphlets/letters from the likes of Locke, Wilberforce & Clarkson illustrating the historic British promotion of human rights & toleration https://t.co/1KpchwRqNB" / X It was a pleasure to visit Regent’s Park College, Oxford today to discuss Freedom of Religion or Belief. Especially as I got to see original pamphlets/letters from the likes of Locke, Wilberforce & Clarkson illustrating the historic British promotion of human rights & toleration https://t.co/1KpchwRqNB

x.com/dsnorthnorth...

Happy St Patrick's Day! From the libraries at Regent's here's a lovely 'Life of St Patrick' from 1905. We also have a c.1765 poetical works of Jonathon Swift - one of Ireland's best known authors and one time Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin where he is now buried.
#StPatricksDay

It's not too late to sign up for our Opening the Angus online seminar, 6th of March @ 7.30 when Zach Williams will talk about Abraham Booth, Baptist minister, author, abolitionist & educationalist in "A 'Capital Part' of Salvation: Abraham Booth on the necessity of Holiness in the Christian Life".

New films share the story of our radical roots Andy Goodliff introduces Radical Roots - a series of films from the Baptist Historical Society telling the stories of five people to help better understand where Baptists came from

Introducing Radical Roots, a brilliant series of films & an accompanying course from the Baptist Historical Society & Church from Scratch. You'll be able to watch the stories of 5 people who can help us better understand the radical roots of Baptists ! www.baptist.org.uk/Articles/704...

Please join us at our Spring Opening the Angus online seminar, 6th of March @ 7.30 when Zach Williams will talk about Abraham Booth, Baptist minister, author, abolitionist & educationalist in "A 'Capital Part' of Salvation: Abraham Booth on the necessity of Holiness in the Christian Life".

Here's a sweet Valentine letter from Charles Spurgeon to his mother written in 1872. He wishes his parents married bliss & sends a gift of ' favourite French plums for your own special self with lots of love & kisses". He may have been the 'Prince of Preachers' but he still loved his mum & dad 💗

Happy Birthday to George Gordon, Lord #Byron. Here is his signature from 1818, carefully preserved in an autograph album compiled by Rev Dr Joseph Angus, founder of the Angus Library, who was clearly a great admirer of his work.

#Santa 's reindeer must have been have been tired in 1928, as here he is in Dholpur, India riding a magnificent elephant. We wonder if it could fly?

Huge thanks to @arascot.bsky.social for running a fantastic #ArchiveAdventCalendar campaign, we have so enjoyed seeing everyone's festive history!

#ArchiveAdvent Day 23 and here is a glowing #star taken from the pages of a sweet little Edwardian book called 'True Comforts' which we have in the library.

#ArchiveAdvent Day 22. For soldiers fighting in WW1, receiving an Xmas #Stocking may have been a far off dream, but the members of Baxter Gate Baptist Church in Loughborough were determined to ensure they received Xmas gifts. Here's a list of items church members could send in parcels to the troops.

A lovely little early C19th edition of Robert Burns’ poem 'The Cottager's Saturday Night - Containing a very pleasing and affecting description of the piety and happiness of a cottager and his family'

A very cosy #family scene for the holidays, can you spot their pet dog?

#ArchiveAdventCalendar

Just look at these beautiful handmade #Toys ! Using pith, the boys in this 1920s photo created incredible models of the steam boats then seen on the Congo river, as well as an amazing bicyle and plane.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar

#ArchiveAdvent #ChristmasSports
Today, a photo of the Christmas Swimming race in Bopoto, Upper Congo-now the Democratic Republic of Congo, taken in 1896. A very energetic way to spend the day!

A group of 7 missionaries in 1897, 5 men and two women, one holding a baby. They are dressed mostly in smart white clothes, standing under a tree and surrounded by vegetation in Bopoto, Congo.

Christmas 1897 in Bopoto, Congo - these missionaries' clothes and all the beautful greenery was certainly #MerryandBright - even if smiling for photographs wasn't in fashion yet! #ArchiveAdventCalendar

Tintin and the terrific tomb: Essex heritage listing is thrill for Hergé fans Rare stone chest linked to comic-book hero joins church above supermarket under Historic England’s protection

Broadmead Baptist Church is on Historic England's 2024 list of remarkable buildings to be given protection.
Broadmead, Bristol's 1st dissenting church, dates from the 17thc. The current church was built by R.Sims, opened in 1969. We ❤ its brutalist beauty! www.theguardian.com/culture/2024...

#ArchiveAdvent 17th December, #ChristmasGifts.
Our gift today is a Robin, taken from a beautiful Victorian scrapbook that we hold.
"Pretty bird! How beautifully dost thou sit and sing" wrote Bishop Joseph Hall in his 'Meditation on a Robin Red-breast' singing at his window.

A pencil sketch of a Victorian lady in an armchair by a fire, with her feet on the fender. A pile of books is behind her on a table and a cat sits beside her on the floor. The caption reads 'Kitty, take these three books to the Library, get Mr Brown to change them - tell him I am fond of the Romatic' (From Seymour's Sketches)

'Kitty, take these three books to the library, get Mr Brown to change them - tell him I'm fond of the ROMANTIC'

A charming C19th little pencil sketch of a library-loving lady and her little cat by a #WarmFire, found in a Victorian scrapbook.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar

#FestiveTraditions
Here is a woodblock illustration of the Three Wise Men from William Hone's book 'Ancient Mysteries Described'(1823).
This rough but charming woodcut would have been printed on Christmas carol 'sheets' which were very popular at the time.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar

A camel with a saddle and harness is tethered in a yard, in front of a white building with decorative arches.

A beautiful camel in 1920s India — looks like it was parked in the town square while the Three Wise Men went gift shopping! 🐪✨ #ArchiveAdventCalendar

The front page of an old, browned pamphlet from 1589. The text reads ' Pappe with an hatchet. : Alias, a figge for my God sonne. Or cracke me this nut. Or a countrie cuffe, that is, a sound boxe of the eare, for the idiot Martin to hold his peace, seeing the patch will take no warning. VVritten by one that dares call a dog, a dog, and made to preuent Martins dog daies Imprinted by Iohn Anoke, and Iohn Astile, for the Bayliue of Withernam, cum priuilegio perennitatis, and are to bee sold at the signe of the crab tree cudgell in Thwack-Coate Lane'

For a #ChristmasCracker here's 'Cracke me a Nut' a gloriously mad pamphlet from 1589 by 'one who dares call a dog, a dog'.

Part of the Puritan vs Anglican Martin Marprelate pamphlet war, it is 'a sound boxe of the eare, for the idiot Martin to hold his peace'.
#ArchiveAdventCalendar

A Victorian era print of a fashionably dressed lady. She wears a yellow silk dress with subtle details and white lace cuffs and collar with a red rose in the centre. She also has two large gold necklaces and dangling golden earrings, with red and white roses in her elaborate hairstyle.

A Victorian print of a fashionably dressed lady. Her blonde hair is in a thick plait at the top of her hair adorned with a large white rose. A golden cross on a black ribbon hangs round her neck with a larger golden necklace below, and dangling gold earrings hang from her ears. Her dress is a mid indigo colour with white stripes on the sleeves and elaborate white collar and cuffs.

These ladies are ready for Christmas party season in their gorgeous #FestiveClothes! Found in a Victorian scrapbook, the colour on these prints is still amazingly vivid. We're glad to live in a era of less elaborate hairstyles, though. #ArchiveAdventCalendar

A beautiful #WinterWonderland from 1926, at the Women's Institute at Taiyuan, Shansi in China, with a very kind gentleman clearing a path through the snow. #ArchiveAdventCalendar

A slightly different #ChristmasCard sent by missionaries Allan and Lily Palmer in the 1910s. Instead of snowy scenes and robins they created a collage of photos from their life in Yalemba, Congo. Not unlike the family newsletters we get in cards today! #ArchiveAdventCalendar