@theul.bsky.social
Cambridge University Library
Autumnal trees near the Alison Richard Building.
Lauren Berlant reading group 📚
Join CRASSH Fellow @darlingorlaith.bsky.social in tracing Berlant’s understanding of normative fantasies and their role in maintaining and critiquing the social and political orthodoxies of given eras
From 13 October, Alison Richard Building, CB3 9DP
bit.ly/4nFi9C0
Thank you!
08.10.2025 10:15 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
📚The Herbert Kretzmer Archive at Cambridge University Library contains a wealth of fascinating #LesMiserables content, including original annotated play scripts, correspondence, programmes, reviews, photographs and memorabilia.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu-X...
💫Today marks the 40th anniversary of the London premiere of Les Misérables! We are honoured to hold the archive of Herbert Kretzmer, the renowned lyricist of the English language version of #LesMis.
🔎Learn more: loom.ly/V0cRKHg
@cam.ac.uk
Isle of Ely recognisances, 1662. A bundle of thin parchment strips tied at one end. They are written in Latin
Had a great time at Cambridge University Library on Wednesday afternoon - I was being an actual researcher (!) consulting the 1662 court records for the Isle of Ely. Huge thank you to the very kind and lovely staff of the @theul.bsky.social manuscripts reading room
03.10.2025 14:26 — 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 0
Hyacinth will live on forever on the shelves @theul.bsky.social: here’s her ‘Book of etiquette for the socially less fortunate’ (1993). CUL L415:8.c.1.36977.
03.10.2025 15:35 — 👍 59 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 0
Montage showing nature printed butterflies in a 1920s notebook: a Peacock, Red admiral and Small tortoiseshell.
Interesting to find some nature printed butterflies @theul.bsky.social yesterday (‘lepidochromes’). The butterflies were pressed on prepared paper, which was folded, allowing the scales to transfer to create mirror images of both sides of the insects’ wings. 1/2 #enthist @camglamresearch.bsky.social
04.10.2025 10:08 — 👍 31 🔁 7 💬 1 📌 0
Our Conservation team enjoyed hosting a visit from Moriki Papers last week! We shared how we use Japanese paper in our studio and learned about the art of Japanese papermaking.
#CULConservation #BookConservation #PaperConservation #JapanesePaper #PaperRepair #Papermaking
Photograph showing the construction of Cambridge University Library in 1933. We see the partially completed front elevation of the building. Some of the metal girders of the building are still visible.
#OnThisDay 100 years ago, plans for a new University Library in Cambridge were gaining traction.
By 2 October 1925, a site had been acquired and architect Sir Giles Gilbert Scott RA had begun his sketches and costings.
As this picture shows, by 1933, construction was underway!
(Cam.a.934.2)
Another chance to attend a FREE tour of Curious Cures: Medicine in the Medieval World with Dr James Freeman, Medieval Manuscripts Specialist @theul.bsky.social - Tue 4 Nov. 12.15-1pm. Register here: www.cilip.org.uk/events/Event...
02.10.2025 08:02 — 👍 3 🔁 3 💬 0 📌 0
Watch our short film about the Kretzmer Archive with Cambridge University Library archivist Kevin Roberts:
youtu.be/Xu-XrMUQN7A?...
The archive of the late Herbert Kretzmer, OBE, has been donated to Cambridge University Library!
Learn more about the collection, which includes material relating to one of the most famous musicals in theatre history, Les Misérables: www.lib.cam.ac.uk/stories/Kret...
Aerial photo of Cambridge University Library
Welcome to the new academic year!
We’ve created a guide for new and returning University of Cambridge students, including online resources, top tips, skills training, tours, collections, and what’s new this term.
https://loom.ly/EmsWxrs
Francis Jenkinson’s diary entry for Saturday 21 September 1901.
Hoverfly resurrection. 21 September 1901, @theul.bsky.social Librarian and dipterist Francis Jenkinson recovers a Marmalade hoverfly from a spider’s web, “tightly wound up … which being unwound came to life again in a pill-box by the evening.” #enthist #Diptera #Hoverflies
30.09.2025 09:51 — 👍 31 🔁 5 💬 2 📌 0
A view across Cambridge colleges towards Cambridge University Library
🍂Michaelmas term starts this week!
We’ve created a guide for new and returning University of Cambridge students, including online resources, top tips, skills training, tours, collections, and what’s new this term.
https://loom.ly/EmsWxrs
Journey through the curious history of medicine with Author @carolcooper.bsky.social and James Freeman, curator of @theul.bsky.social's Curious Cures exhibition! 🩺
Held at the Rock Road Library on the 22nd of October, get your free ticket now via this link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/a-curious-....
White flowers of Feverfew against a blurred dark green background.
Gorgeous Feverfew in the North Courtyard at @theul.bsky.social. #WildflowerHour
28.09.2025 19:06 — 👍 90 🔁 16 💬 0 📌 0
🐿️ @theul.bsky.social
29.09.2025 08:42 — 👍 28 🔁 3 💬 2 📌 0
Got an old floppy disk lying around?
Come have your floppy disk data transferred onto a modern format at Cambridge University Library!
Booking is required at: https://loom.ly/FRjMsM8
An illustration of a woman picking blackberries from tall, leafy brambles. She wears a yellow headscarf, a white blouse, and a long blue skirt adorned with red flower patterns. One arm is outstretched, and the other hand holds a cluster of ripe blackberries near her face. A wicker basket filled with blackberries rests at her feet. The style is vintage and decorative, reminiscent of early 20th-century botanical or storybook illustrations.
An illustration of a woman in a dress made of barley, wheat and poppies. The style is vintage and decorative, reminiscent of early 20th-century botanical or storybook illustrations.
Mentally, I'm here 🍂🍁
Autumnal delights from 'Flowers from Shakespeare's Garden' illustrated by Walter Crane' (1906.9.385)
Promotional poster for University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives’ “Research Skills Training Programme.” The poster features the university library's logo at the top, followed by the title of the programme. It describes the training as “a programme of events to teach essential skills and build confidence for every stage of the research journey.” Topics include reading and note-making, literature searching, academic writing, data management, referencing and copyright, thesis deposit, and publishing, fair attribution & metrics. The background image shows a student working at a desk with books, a laptop, and stationery.
📝 The Research Skills Training Programme from University of Cambridge Libraries and Archives is open for bookings!
👋 Designed primarily for PhD students and researchers, the sessions are open to all Cambridge staff and students.
🔎Learn more and book: https://loom.ly/sBak5xw
Screenshot of Zoom discussion with Sally Kent, Eleanor Parmenter, and event chair Helen Wakely on screen.
Thanks to Sally Kent & Eleanor Parmenter for sharing with #RLUKICIL reflections on @theul.bsky.social project w/ Zambian visual artists exploring new ways to engage with problematic material & collaborating outside library’s trad user base
📺 You can watch a recording of their talk at bit.ly/ICILOND
The front entrance of Cambridge University Library, an impressive brick building
A page from the Terrier of Histon, Cambridgeshire, created by resident Rivers Taylor in 1741, including his signature
Hello #AncestryHour. I am reminiscing about the wonderful visit I had to Cambridge one year ago. I felt very nervous and intimidated to visit the Archives @theul.bsky.social but I did OK! There I was able to access many documents featuring one of my fave ancestors: Rivers Taylor of Histon #genealogy
23.09.2025 18:46 — 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Burned, Cut, Faded, but not Lost
Join us for a free talk delving into the discoveries Dr Clarck Drieshen has made whilst researching our Middle English manuscripts.
📅22 October 2025, 5-6.30pm at Cambridge University Library
To book: https://loom.ly/X1bQkAk
Statue of the North Wind on the Tower at Cambridge University Library this evening, against a deep blue cloudless sky.
September blue sky by the statue of the North Wind, Edward Carter Preston, 1933, @theul.bsky.social.
📷 #photography #BlueskyMonday
A close-up photograph of two eighteenth-century metal type press punches. We see lots of fine marks and indentations on the surface of the metal.
As part of the Small Performances Project, we are digitising Baskerville’s 18th-century printing punches using Photometric Stereo Photography. This technique captures surface details by varying light angles, revealing tool marks and engraving depth to reconstruct the typographic process in 3D!
19.09.2025 06:06 — 👍 10 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
A screenshot from Cambridge University Library's Medieval Bodies event recording on YouTube.
📺If you missed our Medieval Bodies event, don't fret! You can watch the whole thing on YouTube.
🔎Inspired by our Curious Cures exhibition, our panellists 'dissect’ the medieval body, revealing how our ancestors thought their bodies functioned.
🔗 https://loom.ly/I0tGA_k
A detour after a London meeting to visit St Etheldreda, Ely Place. The chapel is the main remnant of the former town palace of the bishops of Ely. The spectacular library of Bishop John Moore given to @theul.bsky.social by King George I in 1715 (and known as ‘the Royal Library’) was once kept here.
17.09.2025 17:49 — 👍 30 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0
Copy that Floppy Cafe 💾
📅Thursday 9 October, 2-5pm
Come have your floppy disk data transferred to a modern format at Cambridge University Library!
For more info and to book: https://loom.ly/FRjMsM8
A beautiful 1930s room with hundreds of hardback catalogue volumes on the shelves. They have green spines and white labels.
The spine of volume A5 of the hard copy catalogue at Cambridge University Library. Its contents range from Accio to Actt.
Struggling to find a reference in the enormous historic catalogues at @theul.bsky.social? Save time with Accio Classmark! #LibraryMagic
17.09.2025 15:35 — 👍 10 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
