Siegfried Sassoon’s First World War diaries – some bearing traces of mud from the Somme – are among 4,100 pages from his personal archive being made freely available online from today, almost 100 years since Britain declared war on Germany.
Born 500 years ago, Andreas Vesalius has iconic status in the history of science. Cambridge University Library holds several copies of the remarkable books that he published to revive the lost art of anatomy and promote his own career as a physician. Historian Dr Sachiko Kusukawa has curated an online exhibition to celebrate Vesalius's achievements.
One hundred years since the start of the First World War, few Cambridge residents are likely to be aware that the University Library stands on the site of a former military hospital. The First Eastern General, set up within days of the outbreak of the war, treated tens of thousands of returning casualties between 1914 and 1919 .
The siege of Anqing in central China was a pivotal episode in a civil war that saw the loss of 20 million lives. At a talk on Tuesday (11 March, 2014) Kang Tchou (Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) will explain how the conflict that took place there prompted developments in logistics and weaponry that changed the face of warfare.
A 13th-century manuscript of Arthurian legend once owned by the Knights Templar is one of the star attractions of a new exhibition opening today at Cambridge University Library.
The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman turned a Yorkshire clergyman into a literary celebrity. Three hundred years after his birth on 24 November 1713, Laurence Sterne’s quirky take on the novel continues to inspire. Dr Mary Newbould explores Sterne’s lasting impact.
For 20 years architectural historian Dr James Campbell waited for someone to write a definitive book about libraries. When he decided to write one himself, his research took him to 82 libraries in 21 countries. The Library: A World History is much overdue but well worth waiting for.
Scholars arriving in Cambridge in the 17th century were not short of advice. James Duport, a tutor at Trinity College, compiled rules that covered most aspects of their lives. Today’s freshers take note: “Let your discourse be sauoury & sappy.”
It was the conundrum that baffled some of the greatest and most eccentric experts of the 18th century - and captivated the British public during an era of unprecedented scientific and technical transformation.
Billions of web pages from millions of websites, as well as public Facebook posts and tweets, will be preserved for time immemorial from tomorrow by Cambridge University Library and five other major libraries.
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