VOLUME 9, I SSUE 3
LIBRARY NEWSLETTER
EASTER 2026
MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVE CATALOGUE NOW LIVE Our new catalogue for manuscripts and archival material is now live online at https://archives.joh.cam.ac.uk. The catalogue provides access to descriptions and records for five main collections: College archives, including the records of St John’s Hospital, Lady Margaret Beaufort, and the College’s institutional archives; Personal papers, featuring documents, letters and research papers relating to over 130 Johnians, from William Wordsworth, Brook Taylor and William Selwyn to Fred Hoyle, Samuel Butler and Paul Dirac, as well as thematic collections such as the Napoleonic War and the Slavery Abolition Movement; The Eagle, offering access to digital scans of the printed issues of the College magazine from 1858 to the present day; Art and artefacts, with entries for paintings and objects belonging to the College; Medieval and post-medieval manuscripts, including detailed records of nearly 280
medieval manuscripts in the Library’s collection, 500 post-medieval manuscripts, and 50 nonWestern manuscripts written in a variety of languages and scripts (including Arabic, Hebrew, Coptic and Greek). The Library and Archives team has started to upload digital scans of its treasures, and while this is definitely still work in progress, if you browse the Art and artefacts and Medieval manuscripts sections you will find a few images of oil paintings, and three manuscripts that are fully available to browse: the Book of Hours of Lady Margaret Beaufort (MS N.24), Christine de Pisan’s Epistle of Othea (MS H.5), and the Holland Psalter (MS K.26). Make sure you set some time aside to immerse yourself in the beauty of their illuminations! Over the coming months, we will continue to expand the catalogue by adding records, linking images, and enhancing descriptions. We hope you will find the new catalogue a useful resource for both academic research and wider intellectual curiosity. Maria Giovanna De Simone, Special Collections Librarian (maternity cover)