Cambridge University Library is delighted to announce the launch of the Liberation Collection Visiting Scholar Programme. Generously supported by the Penchant Foundation, this new initiative will enable a Visiting Scholar to spend between two and four months undertaking research focused on the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection held at Cambridge University Library.

This programme is a collaboration between the University Library Research Institute and Clare Hall, a graduate college located at the heart of the University of Cambridge, renowned for its informal approach to college life and its international diversity. The maximum value of the scholarship is £6000 for UK-based applicants and £7000 for international applicants.

The Liberation Collection is a comprehensive collection of over 3200 books and pamphlets in French on the subjects of the Second World War, the Occupation and the Liberation published during a period of just over two years, from August 1944 to the end of 1946.

The purpose of the collection, which led to an exhibition in Cambridge University Library in 2014, is to show how the French used the medium of the book to express what had happened to them over the previous five years. The collection encompasses a wide range of material, including novels, poetry, illustrated books, photographic albums, literature for children, testimonies from the camps, military works and political publications.

The Visiting Scholar Programme is a unique opportunity to expand on the work and study already undertaken on the collection, through new voices and a new critical perspective. The research associated with the Visiting Scholarship could include Résistance movements, war propaganda, “littérature engagée”, trauma and memory, diplomatic and military history, network studies (around collaborations between writers, printers, and illustrators, or social and cultural relationships demonstrated by marks of ownership and dedications), the history of the book, etc.

The deadline for applications is Monday 22 January 2024, 10:00 AM (GMT).

Full details of this opportunity can be downloaded here: https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/liberation-visiting-scholar