King's College Maughan Library. 13 June 2018

Wednesday. 13 June 2008.

King’s College Maughan Library

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/index.aspx

King's College.

Today’s visit brought LIS to the King’s College Maughan Library where we met Katie Sanbrook, Head of Collections and Adam Ray, Collections Assistant. Katie and Adam shared with us the history of King’s College, the holdings and workings of the Library and several important items from their collection.

Katie Sanbrook & Adam Ray.

King’s College was originally founded in 1829, but since that time has absorbed several other institutions since that time. Presently 25,000 students are enrolled in this large research-led institution, which is ranked in the top 30 schools in the world. The King’s College Library team of eight is responsible for developing the collection, receiving gifts and acquisitions, cataloging and classifying the collection via Library of Congress, Inquiry, reading room service, preservation, working with faculty in their teaching, hosting group visits and promoting the collection. 

Katie and Adam prepared three tables full of treasures for us to see featuring the following themes: the United States of America, Conservation and Teaching.

United States of America

17^th Century. Copy of John Ogilvie’s America. He was a Scottish translator and cartographer and provided the most accurate description of the New World at that point in time. This book included many maps and illustrations.

1724 Book of Pennsylvania Charter and Laws printed,
owned and inscribed by Benjamin Franklin when he resided in London.

1860. Mechanically printed commemorative book documenting the Royal Visit of Prince Edward of Wales
along the eastern seaboard of the United States and Canada. The tour was a great success.
James Buchanan was President of the USA at the time.

King’s College collects modern books as well—books of value due to the provenance of the item or association with an author or owner.  

Collected Poems by Allen Ginsberg.  This book was a gift to a professor of King's College and was insrcibed by the author.

Conservation

1799 Map consisting of 32 sheets of London neighborhoods (middle, left). This was the first set of maps which attempted to show every building in London and was financed by subscription. Upon examination, it was decided that the paper should be de-acidified and re-backed to prevent further fraying.

1946 HG Adler, Holocaust survivor donated his library to King’s College including printed material describing the history of Jews in Europe (middle, right).

1543 1^st edition Vesalius “on the fabric of the human body” (lower image).

Teaching

15 century Lubec Bible (lower right). A bible written in German vernacular. 
Used to teach undergraduates about the Reformation.

18^th Chap Books. Simple storybooks such as Cinderella (lower left).

LIS was then brought to the Weston Room, an exhibition space featuring The Printed Page, a show of the history of the printed page. https://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec/exhibitions/maughan.aspx

 I was very pleased to discover another connection to Hamilton the Musical, a copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense was on display in the exhibition.

From the song "The Schuyler Sisters":

[ANGELICA]
I’ve been reading Common Sense by Thomas Paine
So men say that I’m intense or I’m insane
You want a revolution? I want a revelation
So listen to my declaration:

[ELIZA/ANGELICA/PEGGY]
“We hold these truths to be self-evident
That all men are created equal”

[ANGELICA]
And when I meet Thomas Jefferson

[COMPANY]
Unh!

[ANGELICA]
I’m ‘a compel him to include women in the sequel!

[WOMEN]
Work!

Hamilton: An America Musical. Performances by Lin-Manuel Miranda, Leslie Odom Jr., Phillipa Soo, and Jonathan Groff. Atlantic Records, 2015.

Jack ably led the library tour for our group. He told us that the library building was the former home of the Public Records Office.

The Weston Room housing the exhibition, is the oldest room in the building, dating back to 1851.

Colors from the stained glass windows reflecting upon the mosaic floor.

Next we viewed the "cell" storage room, built after the great fire of 1666 with many fire protection design elements in place including an iron floor, brick foundation and slate shelves. The cage no longer houses books, but it has been preserved as an example of English heritage and students still come to use the space for studying.

Our tour guide, Jack.

The "cell".

A rare example of an original painted Zinc ceiling.

The Maughan Library Reading Room inspired by the Reading Room at the British Museum.

The staff at the Maughan Library were very welcoming and I appreciated the fact that they selected items from their archive that related to the United States. In case you are wondering, yes, "The Schuyler Sisters" from Hamilton WAS in my head for the rest of the day, which honestly was fine with me.