The Old Library

Statistics

2021-22 2020-21 2019-20

Readers consulting special collections material* 169

Visitors taking a tour of the Old Library** Numbers unavailable

Letters filed 5 6

0

1 206

873

3

E-mail responses to enquiries Reproductions of special collections material processed outside College Onsite professional photography Reproductions of special collections material processed in house*** Permissions granted to reproduce special collections material in published works Use of special collections material in connection with biographical work 1291 0 987 0 1077 6

½ day 2 days 3 days 2342 1700 1478

61 86 61

21 15 27

*The reading room was open to local readers during August 2021, and then re-opened to all readers from 1 September. COVID safety measures meant that only one reader at a time was admitted. Numbers remained low initially for the first part of the year, picking up towards the latter part of the Lent Term. From mid-May two readers were admitted simultaneously.

** The Upper Library remained closed to visitors while it was in use for storing furniture removed from the Working Library. The last chairs were removed on 18 March 2022. Work on the Lower Library environmental conditions prevented access via that route, but the Upper Library was opened on a dropin basis for the College community on Wednesday afternoons throughout the Easter Term. Numbers were not counted.

*** Includes material reproduced to answer Biographical enquiries.

Of the 169 reader sessions booked, 64 (38%) were occupied by students, three quarters of whom were PhD students. 29% of reader sessions were taken up by overseas readers: two thirds from North America and a third from Europe. Although the overall figures remain understandably lower than in pre-pandemic years, the proportions both of students using the collections and of overseas readers are comparable with those experienced prior to 2020. The main difference is the complete absence of scholars from Australasia and Asia.

Requests for copies of material from the collections continue to rise, perhaps reflecting the fact that many scholars are not currently travelling to see items in person, but also the increasing ease with which copies may be made.

Purchases

Thanks to the Noël Marshall Fund it has been possible to purchase a range of interesting material, either relating directly to Johnians or building on particular strengths of the collection.

Perrin plantation papers (3rd instalment). John Morten £6996, plus £240 for additional significant documents from the same collection.

Galart de Monjoie Éloge historique et funèbre de Louis XVIe du nom, roi de France et de Navarre (1797). Formerly owned by John Fiott Lee. Purchased from Bernard Quaritch, £750.

William Sterndale Bennett No.2 of Six Songs with English and German words (1842). Purchased from Simon Beattie, £100.

William Sterndale Bennett Twelve Songs with English and German words (1842). Purchased from Simon Beattie, £40.

John Trusler, London adviser and guide (1786). Purchased from Susanne Schulz-Falster Rare Books, £1800.

William Wilberforce. Two autograph letters (1806). Purchased from Maggs & Co., £2500.

Donations

We are grateful to all our donors for their generosity. This year has seen some particularly welcome additions to our collections of the personal papers of Johnians.

Martin Weiler Archives of Wilfred Henry Woollen (1903)

Chris Davies Papers and books by Professor D.V. Davies, Fellow of St John’s 1937-48

John Leake Papers relating to the admission of women

Ernie Lees Matriculation photograph 1956 Ian Kay Autograph letter of Sir Harold Jeffreys

Chris Fletcher Further glass plate negatives taken by Richard Yapp

Richard Griffin Papers of Roger Griffin

Robin Bunce The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy television scripts, belonging to camera operator Roger Bunce

Papers of Professor Clarke, newly boxed and sorted. John Kerrigan Hugh Sykes Davies Petron (Swedish translation)

Sir John Smiley Autograph letters from Sir Cecil Beaton to his family

Liam Sims Framed print of the Upper Library by Gertrude Hayes, ca.1911-12

Ian Smith Notes taken by William Wesley Ellison at lectures delivered by Glanville Williams during the 1930s

Professor Peter Clarke Personal papers

From the estate of Victor Perry Geneva Bible (1608) Foxe’s Acts and monuments (1684)

Visits and classes

Limits on numbers in the reading room to maintain COVID safety meant that only a small number of classes could be run this year. Once the chairs stored in the Upper Library were returned to the Working Library it became possible to accommodate group visits again though.

Manuscripts class for MML postgraduates (split into 3 groups) (January 2022) German Islamic students with Dr Morag Morrison-Helme (March 2022) Attingham Trust ‘From College Library to Country House’ study course (April 2022) HPS seminar on Heberden’s Materia Medica Cabinet (June 2022) Conservation MA students from West Dean College (June 2022) Delegates from the Privacy Laws and Business conference (July 2022)

Events

‘Weigh me the fire’: The Elements of an Old Library. Exhibition for the Cambridge Festival, April 2022. All 125 available places were booked.

Peterborough Cathedral online history talk ‘The Lindsay Psalter’ given by Sarah Gilbert and Kathryn McKee 16 June 2022.

A public exhibition From Babel to the Babel Fish: Transmission, Translation and the Technology of Language was displayed for Open Cambridge on 10 September 2022, attracting 336 visitors.

Initial B from the Lindsey Psalter

Preservation

It has been a challenging year for preservation. Unfortunately 2021-22 saw the worst mould outbreak to date in the Lower Library, as relative humidity maintained high levels throughout the summer months of 2021. Harwells were brought in to treat the worst affected materials, taking 64 boxes of books away for irradiation and specialist cleaning, at a cost of around £12,000. The Library’s bookbinder, Philip Bolton, has allocated extra hours to book cleaning to work through the remaining books in situ, as not all of those that were badly affected could practicably be removed for treatment. From August we have also had volunteer help for one day a week. A working group was formed, comprising members of the College Maintenance Department and consultants Tobit Curteis and Oliver Caroe, plus the Sub-Librarian, to identify a solution to the problem. All freestanding bookcases have now been moved away from the outer walls (necessitating the removal, crating, and reshelving of over 11,500 volumes of rare books, and over 1500 archive boxes) in order to create an air gap. Following a full survey, a temporary air-handling system was installed by Munters in early June, with ducts run through existing windows to plant in Third Court to regulate the relative humidity within the building.

Volunteer, Jess, using a conservac to remove mould from volumes.

The temporary air-handling unit for the Lower Library

The effectiveness of this has been monitored over the summer months, when conditions are most conducive to the formation of mould, to inform the design of an effective permanent system. Settings were adjusted throughout June to try to control the relative humidity, though the system was briefly disabled in early July when extreme diurnal fluctuations were observed which themselves would be damaging to the collections. The trial was extended into October following system breakdown in September. Recent years have shown that a control system is going to be essential to preserve the collections as global warming brings more extremes of temperature and humidity. At time of writing, the books which were irradiated and cleaned by Harwells have just been returned, and will be reshelved in those areas where cleaning is complete.

High summer temperatures mean checking the Upper Library for bread beetle larvae. A combination of high temperatures and high RH produces ideal conditions for hatching, and while the summer of 2022 saw extreme temperature, it was also exceptionally dry. Previously infested volumes were checked after each high temperature incident, and a single live larva was found. The volume has now been sent to Harwells for freeze-drying.

The Conservation Consortium continued to work through ‘A2’ conservation priorities, carrying out conservation on 12 early printed works:

Hierocles of Alexandria, two works, 1654 and 1655 (Aa/G.26.20) Sermons (Ee.6.2) Multi-item volume (G.14.25) Multi-item volume (Gg.4.7) Multi-item volume (Gg.6.2) Thomas Clarkson, An essay on the impolicy of the African slave trade, 1788 (H.8.47)

David Jenkins, The works of that grave and learned lawyer Iudge Ienkins, prisoner in Newgate, 1648 (I.13.29) Euclid, The elements of geometrie, 1570 (Kk.2.7) Simon Stevin, Les oeuvres mathematiques, 1634 (Kk.2.46) William Austin, Devotionis Augustinianae flamma, or, Certaine devout, godly, and learned meditations, 1635 (P.2.15) Simon Patrick, A commentary upon the books of Joshua, Judges and Ruth, 1702 (Qq.10.6) Arnobius of Sicca, Arnobii Afri Adversus gentes libri VII, 1651 (Ss.5.18)

Consortium staff also provided advice on the appropriate treatment for the mould outbreak in the Lower Library, together with cleaning supplies to treat the affected shelves.

Exhibitions

St Bartholomew's Day Massacre 1572

Loans

The Huguenots : the story of the French Reformation (online only) Michaelmas 2021, curated by Katie Hannawin.

From January 2022 in-person exhibitions were staged again (though online versions were also produced to give access to a wider audience).

Women and their books. Lent 2022 (a reduced version of this exhibition was restaged in the Old Music Room for the Johnian Dinner in July)

The Student Art and Photography Competition went ahead for the first time in three years. 55 entries were received.

Time and space. Summer 2022, curated by Jess Hollerton. (This exhibition will remain on display throughout the Michaelmas Term 2022 to allow more students to appreciate it, as it provides such an attractive introduction to the range of books in the Special Collections.)

No exhibition loans took place in 2021-22, but after a lull due to COVID, requests are now being received again.

Projects

Excellent progress has been made on the project to digitize papers from the slavery collections, uploading images to the Cambridge Digital Library along with transcriptions. Adam has completed high-resolution scanning and all images and data have been tidied, so everything is ready to load once the CUDL is able to do so.

Three medieval manuscripts from the Library’s collections underwent scientific pigment analysis by the Fitzwilliam Museum staff in 2022 as part of an AHRC funded project ‘The pigments of British illuminators 600-1660’. It is hoped that a fourth will be analysed in the autumn of 2022.

The Great Bible was transferred to the Hamilton Kerr Institute for a day in August to undergo XREF analysis, for research by Dr Eyal Poleg and Dr Paola Ricciardi into the production and ownership of this unique volume.

Significant progress has been made on the new catalogue of medieval manuscripts, thanks to a grant from the College’s Annual Fund, rolled forward from 2020-21, which enabled us to employ a cataloguer for eight months specifically to work on the physical descriptions of the manuscripts. During the time available it proved possible to complete such descriptions for about a third of the collection, concentrating on the older manuscripts, and those with bindings that were particularly unusual or difficult to describe. In the course of the necessary research into the materiality of the volumes, significant new information has been uncovered regarding the provenance and content of the manuscripts, which will inform and enhance their full cataloguing. In addition, templates and protocols have now been put in place for the cataloguing of the remainder of the collection.

Looking ahead, the Library is participating in a Wellcome Trust funded project, ‘Curious Cures in Cambridge Libraries’, the purpose of which is to digitize, catalogue, and conserve over 180 medical manuscripts in Cambridge (including eight from St John’s) and to transcribe approximately 8,000 medical recipes in full.

Staffing

Dr Sarah Gilbert was appointed Medieval Manuscripts Cataloguer on an eight-month contract from November 2021 to June 2022. (We hope to see her again in 2023 as she is now working on the Curious Cures project at the UL.)

Following the end of her one-year contract in July, Jess Hollerton, the 2021-22 Graduate Trainee, has volunteered one day a week to assist with conservation cleaning in the Lower Library.

Media

BBC Northern Ireland filmed items from the Archives and Special Collections in the Hall for a documentary about Patrick Brontë. December 2021.

On 2 March 2022, the colours of the Ukrainian national flag were projected onto the Bridge of Sighs from the Lower Library.

The Communications Department photographed Douglas Adams’s teddy bear in the Upper Library for Towel Day in May 2022.

Kathryn McKee Sub-Librarian and Special Collections Librarian