Category: Historical collections

Books on North African Textiles at Cambridge University Library

On By europeancollectionsIn E-resources, ebooks, French, Historical collections, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

The recent exhibition of books on and from North Africa in the UL brought together a fascinating selection of volumes on textiles. In putting the display together, Irene Fabry-Tehranchi kindly considered my interest in the topic. The fact that I teach on the (Un)clothed body module for the MMLL comparative paper CS5: The Body means that I am always looking for material that resonates with this subject area. My research in North African literature has always involved consideration of the ways in which social customs, including dress, are represented in literature, thought and art on or from the region.

In addition to this, I am a keen amateur embroiderer and on a trip to Paris in recent years I discovered a silk embroidery floss called ‘soie d’Alger’ (Algiers silk), considered one of the finest silk embroidery threads available, produced by the family-owned firm Au ver à soie. Their website suggests that there is no connection between this stranded embroidery floss and the city of Algiers. The silk itself is imported from China, and the name ‘soie d’Alger’ is believed to be related to the process of spinning the stranded silk. But I am reluctant to accept this lack of geo-political connection without some investigation. Irene has pointed me in the direction of French press database Retronews and highlighted several articles on the French production of silk in Algeria under French rule. She also sourced a number of colonial exhibition catalogues and agricultural reports from the 19th and 20th centuries containing information on the production of fibres including silk, wool and cotton in French Algeria. Continue reading “Books on North African Textiles at Cambridge University Library” →

North Africa in Cambridge University Library’s Francophone and Arabic collections

On By europeancollectionsIn French, Historical collections, New Acquisitions, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic Liaison, The Department of World CollectionsLeave a comment

It has been a year since the Fitzwilliam Museum exhibition Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance, and the CCC network (Collections Connections Communities Strategic Research Initiative, which encompasses Cambridge University’s museums, garden, libraries, and archives) has just published a report on African Collections Futures, about Africa-related objects and materials present across the University of Cambridge. A few weeks ago, we organised at the library a display of books from North Africa, focusing on items about and from Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia (mainly Francophone, but including some Arabic material). This gave us the opportunity to showcase key collections among Cambridge University Library’s holdings. While older material often provided a Western perspective regarding the Maghreb, for 19th and 20th century works, we focused on publications emanating from these countries (historically marked by a strong colonial outlook); we still collect current Francophone publications from the region.

Continue reading “North Africa in Cambridge University Library’s Francophone and Arabic collections” →

Camões 500th Anniversary

On By europeancollectionsIn Historical collections, Portuguese, Special collectionsLeave a comment

This year probably marks the 500th anniversary of the birth of Luís Vaz de Camões, the Portuguese language’s greatest poet. I say “probably” because, like much of the life of Camões, the exact date and place of his birth are uncertain – although Lisbon in 1524 is considered most likely. What we do know is that Camões lived a life as full of exotic and outlandish adventure as his most important work, Os Lusíadas (The Lusiads in English).

The only reliable portrait of Camões, a copy of one painted during his lifetime by Fernão Gomes (image from Wikimedia Commons)
Continue reading “Camões 500th Anniversary” →

Ravensbrück (1946), Germaine Tillion and Jeannette L’Herminier

On By europeancollectionsIn French, Historical collections, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

Ravensbrück was published in Neuchâtel by Éditions de la Baconnière in 1946, as part of the blue series of “Les Cahiers du Rhône”, a collection directed by Albert Béguin. As a tribute to the French flag, the collection was subdivided into the blue, white and red series. Works in the blue series dealt with contemporary events. The Cahiers defended a form of Christian humanism and spirituality opposed to Nazi materialism and the compromises of the Vichy regime. Ravensbrück is a compilation of testimonies by 13 survivors of the German concentration camp for women, starting with French résistante Germaine Tillion, author of the longest piece by far. It includes texts by Anne Fernier, Violette Maurice, Nina Zwanska, Anise Girard, Grazunska Chrostowska, Renée Metté, Bluette Morat, Monique Nosley, Geneviève de Gaulle, Thérèse Grospirron, Marie-Elisa Nordmann and Génia Rosoff. They cover subjects ranging from hunger to scientific experiments, and communism to prayer in the camp.

Continue reading “Ravensbrück (1946), Germaine Tillion and Jeannette L’Herminier” →

Forthcoming talk by Marie Puren on the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection

On By europeancollectionsIn French, Historical collections, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

On Thursday 24 October 2024 (5-6.30pm), Dr Marie Puren (Liberation Collection Visiting Scholar 2024) will present her research on the Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection in the Milstein Room at Cambridge University Library. Marie’s talk will be accompanied by a display of items from the collection and a drinks reception.

Marie’s research focuses on the role of Resistance literature in rebuilding national consciousness after the Second World War. Her aim is to examine how this literature, driven by the intellectual and political climate, contributed to shaping new political ideologies and cultural policies in post-war France. The originality of this work lies in the use of digital humanities techniques to uncover the ways Resistance narratives influenced public sentiment and political discourse. You can read more about her research project in this previous blogpost.

During this presentation, Marie will explain the approach she has taken, by creating a digital corpus of a representative sample of the collection. She will explain the methods used and present her initial findings. Her presentation will demonstrate how the digital humanities can deepen our understanding of both the Liberation Collection and the political, cultural, and literary history of post-war France.

Please note this talk is in-person but will be recorded.

You can book your free tickets here. For any enquiries about this event,  please contact researchdevelopment@lib.cam.ac.uk.

Irene Fabry-Tehranchi

New call for Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) studentship on Spanish Street Literature at Oxford University, in partnership with Cambridge University Library

On By europeancollectionsIn Historical collections, Spanish, Special collectionsLeave a comment

Cambridge University Library is inviting applications for a three-year AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) on Spanish street literature as part of the Open-Oxford-Cambridge AHRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).  This fully funded collaborative studentship, available from October 2025, is attached to the Faculty of History, University of Oxford, in partnership with Cambridge University Library. 

Continue reading “New call for Collaborative Doctoral Award (CDA) studentship on Spanish Street Literature at Oxford University, in partnership with Cambridge University Library” →

Books from the library of David Josef Bach 

On By europeancollectionsIn German, Historical collections, Special collectionsLeave a comment

In this post I want to follow on from Mel Bach’s blog celebrating David Josef Bach’s anniversary posted on August 17 this year. As mentioned, we were surprised and excited when Gonville & Caius College offered us the chance to select more books from the library of David Josef Bach which had been in their custody. We were pleased to select over 50 titles which complement the University Library’s holdings of German literature of the first half of the 20th century. Here I want to feature some of the highlights to give an idea of the extent of the collection of David Josef Bach.

Franz Kafka: Der Heizer. Leipzig, 1916.

This second edition complements the first edition which the UL holds as well.

Continue reading “Books from the library of David Josef Bach “ →

Books of secrets in the Ann Massing collection

On By europeancollectionsIn English, French, German, Historical collections, Italian, New Acquisitions, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

Cambridge University Library regularly receives book donations, either as one-offs or as part of long-standing agreements of large collections (see the UL’s donations policy). Past and present members of the university are the primary donors of important often scholarly or historical publications (see the blogpost about Historical donations to the University Library). We have previously written about items in the large collection of art books donated by Professor Jean-Michel Massing (see the blogposts on Jujutsu for the Swiss and Ursula Hoff), which currently consists of more than 3500 works.

Today, we would like to highlight the collection donated by Ann Massing, whose very specific and interesting focus is historical and technical publications about arts and crafts: it totals more than 600 items. Ann Massing is an accredited painting conservator who taught painting restoration at the Hamilton Kerr Institute, a teaching and research department of the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. The institute is dedicated to the study and conservation of easel paintings in public and publicly shown collections as well as the Museum. Ann is the author of the historical monograph Painting restoration before La Restauration : the origins of the profession in France (Cambridge : Hamilton Kerr Institute ; London : Harvey Miller, 2012, S950.b.201.772). The Restauration mentioned in the title is that of the French monarchy, after the Revolution and the Napoleonic empire, in 1814-1815. On the topic of historical painting restoration, see also Noémie Étienne, La Restauration des peintures à Paris (1750-1815) : pratiques et discours sur la matérialité des œuvres d’art (Rennes, Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2012, S950.b.201.1089, translated into English in 2016) and the recent book by Barbara Jouves-Hann, Amateurs et restaurateurs de tableaux à Paris (1789-1870) (Paris, Editions de la Sorbonne, Paris : 2024, C220.c.5538).

Continue reading “Books of secrets in the Ann Massing collection” →

David Josef Bach (1874-1947)

On By europeancollectionsIn German, Historical collections, Special collections1 Comment

One of the Bach library books: ‘Mit 5 PS’ by Kurt Tucholsky.

This week saw the 150th anniversary of the birth of David Josef Bach.  This blog post starts with a background to the University Library’s Bach collection, written by David Lowe in 2013 as then-Head of Department and German Specialist, and follows with an update.

“Bach was a leading social democrat, journalist and “Kulturpolitiker” in early twentieth-century Vienna. After Bach’s death in London in 1947 his library passed to his nephew Herbert, whose widow presented the books to Cambridge in 1975. This donation added approximately 1,900 new titles to the collection and considerably enriched the library’s holdings of German literature from the period 1900-1930. The particular strengths lie in its collection of Austrian authors, in plays and in works on theatre history. It thus complements the Schnitzler Papers. The collection includes a significant number of inscribed presentation copies, and works from other literatures in German translation are well represented. Continue reading “David Josef Bach (1874-1947)” →

The new editorial and literary landscape in post-war France (1944-1946)

On By europeancollectionsIn French, Historical collections, Special collections, The Department of Collections and Academic LiaisonLeave a comment

On the 80th anniversary of the Normandy landings, we are delighted to introduce Marie Puren, the first visiting scholar who received funding from the Penchant Foundation to carry on research on Cambridge University Library’s Chadwyck-Healey Liberation Collection. Marie Puren studied at the Ecole Nationale des Chartes and Sciences Po Paris; she wrote her PhD on French writer and publisher Jean de La Hire (1878-1956) and studied the mechanisms of conversion to collaboration in French publishing during the Second World War. She is now an Associate Professor in History and Digital Humanities at EPITA, an Engineering school in Computer Intelligence based in Paris. Marie will be based in Cambridge until the end of July 2024 and you can read here her research project entitled: “From one propaganda to another? The new editorial and literary landscape in post-war France (1944-1946)”. It will involve data mining works of fiction in the Liberation collection. Continue reading “The new editorial and literary landscape in post-war France (1944-1946)” →