A few months ago, we were delighted to welcome two visitors from Haiti to Cambridge University Library: Jean-Claude Legagneur, painter and director of the Musée du Panthéon National Haïtien, and the historian and writer Daniel Supplice. They were invited to Cambridge by colleagues from the Fitzwilliam Museum, in preparation for the forthcoming Black Atlantic exhibition, and were able to meet colleagues from the Modern Languages and History faculty. This gave us the opportunity to exhibit some of Cambridge University Library’s holdings related to Haiti, including current publications focusing on Haitian literature and art, in Creole and French, but also English and Spanish (academic works, along with other material, such as children picture books translated into Haitian Creole, from the Legal Deposit collections). The display included books published in Haiti (this year we added a new supplier, Libros de Barlovento), the UK, France, Canada, etc., and works about the history of the island (aspects of its earlier history; studies of Taíno archaeological remains and the culture of this indigenous Caribbean people; or later emblematic political figures, such as Toussaint Louverture). The visit of Cambridge UL was followed by a tour of the Wren Library at Trinity College with a display of livres d’artistes from its Kessler collection.
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