St John's College Old Library, Cambridge University
St John's College Library was opened in 1516. By 1616 the growth of its collections of printed books and manuscripts necessitated its removal to a new building, and in 1628 the Old Library, as it is now known, was completed. Since then the Old Library has acquired books, manuscripts, collections of personal papers, artefacts, and photographs to fill its shelves. Today the Library seeks to acquire, through donation, bequest, or purchase, papers of members of the College, and archival material illustrative of College life, in accordance with its collection development policy.
The MLA Designated Old Library Collection is particularly strong in the fields of mathematics and science, and includes the personal papers of John Couch Adams, Sir John Herschel, Sir Fred Hoyle, Sir Harold Jeffreys, Sir Joseph Larmor, Max Newman, Sir Charles Parsons, and J. J. Sylvester. The collection also includes papers of the slavery abolitionists Thomas Clarkson and William Wilberforce, the writer and artist Samuel Butler, and the society photographer Sir Cecil Beaton.
The Library intends to make descriptions of all its holdings of personal papers available on the Archives Hub in due course, as they are catalogued.
Address: Special Collections Librarian
St John's College
Cambridge CB2 1TP
Telephone: 01223 339393
Email: jah63@cam.ac.uk Web: www.joh.cam.ac.uk/library
