2025 marks the 60th anniversary of UCL's Small Press collections. UCL has collected widely in this area of independent radical publishing to preserve the outputs of these activities. The collections comprise 4,500 periodicals and 20,000 pamphlets. Watch a new celebratory video at lnkd.in/eAhT7M6t.

Happy Halloween! 💀🎃 What could be scarrier than a skeleton whose bones bend in unnatural ways? This drawing of a skeleton is from the 1696 Pharmacopœia Londinensis. While the skeleton may look unrealistic, the bones are accurately labelled.

UCL Research Institute for Collections Fellow, Dr. Liz Bruchet and Ming Tiampo will be presenting at this symposium next week. Their paper will focus on 'Slade Overseas Students and Conjunctures of Global Activism' and will draw on records from our College Archive. benuri.org/events/80-sy...

Coming soon to British Online Archives — Witchcraft and Magic in England, c. 1400–1920. Featuring rare records from The National Archives, British Library, UCL, and The Folklore Society. Register your interest: buff.ly/YBeFCF1

Join us on 4 Nov for a workshop with @wikimediauk.bsky.social and discover how this project used historic student publications to support research, teaching, and public engagement. You'll also have the chance to see the original material and get hands-on training processing historical documents.

We love inscriptions, though "Nausea" is an uncommon name to find! This inscription is from vol 1 of Denis Diderot's 1751 Encyclopédie. It is a later addition, as it is on late 19th/early 20th century paper added when the book was rebound. Who added the inscription, and why? Suggestions welcome!

In 2025 UCL Special Collections celebrates 60 years of collecting small press. This year also marks 50 years of publishing by Coracle Press @coracle.bsky.social Join us for a birthday bash! 12 November 17:00 - 20:00 Free & open to all / booking essential. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-continu...

@uclspeccoll.bsky.social has appointed Monitor Books as the inaugural Small Press in Residence as part of celebrations marking 60 years since UCL’s Small Press Collection was established. Read more here: www.ucl.ac.uk/library/news...

Happy National Poetry Day! For more information on the @uclspeccoll.bsky.social Poetry Store visit www.ucl.ac.uk/library/spec...

Join us on October 23rd for our Bloomsbury Open Morning! We'll be looking at items from our collection related to sewers & clean water in C19th London 🚰 To book your free ticket, visit: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ucl-specia... #londonhistory #londonwater

A unique, free pop-in event to celebrate World Food Day. Come along on 14 Oct to explore our fascinating collections and discover the stories behind food and daily life through the ages at UCL East in Stratford. Book your ticket on tinyurl.com/UCLSpecCollF... now! #worldfoodday

We are grateful to Professor Timon Screech for gifting these two coffee mugs and saucers that used to be in the academic staff common room. They will be added to the College Archive.

Yes! And if you want to explore Orwell as a social commentator and journalist, check out our free online schools resource: Orwell in the Archive www.ucl.ac.uk/library/coll...

Last chance to see! Our #display of 'spinless' objects from @ucl.ac.uk Small Press Collections is on display @senatehouselib.bsky.social until 9 September, and can be see as part of the excellent Spinless Wonders #exhibition there. Free and open to all! On display in the 4th floor membership area

The 80th anniversary of George Orwell's Animal Farm was just a few days ago, and @uclnews.bsky.social has an article about its publication and legacy. You can read it at: www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2025/au... #GeorgeOrwell #AnimalFarm

Today is International Cat Day, so please appreciate this distinguished feline from the cover of Little Folks magazine! Little Folks featured stories, songs and poems for children and encouraged submissions from readers. Shelfmark: LAURENCE HOUSMAN COLLECTION 321 #InternationalCatDay #BlackCat

A small exhibition of material from the @uclspeccoll.bsky.social Small Press Collections is on at @senatehouselib.bsky.social until 31/8, complementary to their excellent Spineless Wonders. If you can't make it to SHL, here's a online guide to all the exhibits: sway.cloud.microsoft/tWg56jeuiFaQ...

Grateful to have attended #ISCHE46 @ische-news.bsky.social in Lille. My reflections on 'Teachers, Teaching and a Fragile Sense of Hope' are now on the @uclspeccoll.bsky.social blog: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll... #TeacherTraining #Eugenics #Hope #Imperialism #EduSky

During July and August, ‘spineless’ items from our Small Press Collections are on display ‪@senatehouselib.bsky.social‬ and can be seen as part of the wider Spineless Wonders exhibition there. Free & open to all! Many thanks to our friends at Senate House for having us! Image by Christos Fotelis

Our exhibition on 19th century sanitation is now open at the Cruciform Hub! It covers the debate over water & sanitation in the lead up to the 1875 Public Health Act. If you have a UCL card, drop by and see it! For more info: blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll... @uclhealthlibraries.bsky.social

The New Curators Project 2025 participants are launching their exhibition titled "The Best of Newham" tomorrow. Join us to celebrate with free local food, craft and games. Just show up – everyone’s welcome! Tue 10 Jun, 5-7pm East Ham Library, 328 Barking Road, E6 2RT

We are excited to announce our new resource for GCSE History teachers that covers the topic of migration. It will be the first of a series of free, digital resources that explore our collection, presenting primary sources that reveal unique perspectives and voices. www.ucl.ac.uk/library/coll...

Sharpen your #knitting needles and join us for Craft Thing on 10 June, an afternoon of #crafting explored through UCL's Special Collections. Free and open to all but only a few tickets remain: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/craft-thin...

The New Curators Projects participants are launching their exhibition next Tuesday! Come celebrate with us and enjoy free local food, crafts and games inspired by the exhibition theme “The Best of Newham”. Tuesday 10 Jun, 5-7pm East Ham Library, E6 2RT No need to sign up – just turn up!

Dr Michelle Reynolds is our 2025 Special Collections Visiting Fellow! Michelle is a researcher in 19th-20thC art & visual culture. They will be using our Laurence Housman #rarebooks collection to explore Housman's role in the women's suffrage movement in the context of his life as a queer activist

Join us tomorrow for a special display of our incredible collections, featured in the short films created by Year 2 BA Creative Arts and Humanities students. Stay for the premiere screening and see how our collections inspired their work. Last chance to secure your spot on tinyurl.com/uclscfilm.

Year 9 Pupils from Kelmscott Secondary School recently joined us to learn about becoming an historian. They developed their skills through researching an item relating to medical history in our collection. These are their responses at seeing the items face to face at the end of the project!

Join us next week for this online talk 'Co-producing research with Special Collections: Prejudice and Power case study' (Tue 3rd June 10-11:30am). Free and open to all!

Andrew Whiteman is our 2025 LTC Visiting Fellow! A musician & mythopoetics scholar from Montreal, he writes & performs in Broken Social Scene, AroarA & Poets’ Workout Sound System & has co-founded sirenrecordings.com. He'll be using #smallpress poetry recordings to create a new work of sonic #poetry

Craft Thing! Join us on 10 June for an afternoon of #crafting, collection displays, and a talk on histories of political banner making by the brilliant Alice Gabb! Free and open to all: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/craft-thin....

BA Creative Arts and Humanities students have produced original short films inspired by UCL Special Collections items. Join us for the premiere screening on 3 Jun and explore a special display of the rare books and archives that shaped their creative process. Book now on tinyurl.com/uclscfilm

We hold unique, rich collections for the study of deafness, d/Deaf communities, and institutions associated with them. To mark #Deaf Awareness Week, we explore on our blog histories of sign languages through our collections. blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll...

UCL has acquired rare correspondence between #GeorgeOrwell and his original publisher. Now in the care of @uclspeccoll.bsky.social, the letters offer insight into Orwell’s early literary relationships, his approach to publishing and his response to criticism. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/m...

Happy 207th birthday Karl Marx! To celebrate, read about two editions of Das Kapital in our collection - a French translation with Marx's own corrections (!) and a later English edition with George Orwell's notes!! blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-coll...

This brilliant course, part of London Rare Books Summer School programme, will be a unique opportunity to work with our outstanding collections of little, artists', and alternative magazines! Join us in May!

Just 1 day left to apply for the Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize! If you’re studying at a London university and have a collection of at least 8 books or any other printed items, don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to win £600. Apply on tinyurl.com/uclbookprize... before 12pm tomorrow.

Our next Open Morning will be on May 16th, 10am to 12pm in our South Junction Reading Room (UCL's Bloomsbury campus). All are welcome - it's free! - just sign up in advance and pop in: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/open-morni... Come and meet some friendly staff and see some incredible collection items!

A few tickets left for Secret: Archives and Power workshop! Presented by us, Invigilator Research Network and Department of Information Studies, the session explores how secrecy in archives relates to power dynamics and the nuances of handling secrets as an archivist. Tickets on shorturl.at/Y9eWy

Come and work with us in our fab Outreach team!

Interesting free publicevent from @uclspeccoll.bsky.social - 'Archives: Secrets and Power'. Exploring different types and degrees of secrecy in collections to understand power dynamics, barriers to access and the nuances of handling secrets. www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/secrets-ar...

Job vacancy! We are looking for an Outreach Programme Manager (maternity cover). Email [email protected] for the full job description. Please share with your networks! jobs.guidantglobal.com/job/outreach...

A couple of lesser-known pencil sketches of Bentham's panopticon, dates unknown From the Bentham Papers @uclspeccoll.bsky.social , Box 157, folios 70 and 71

The Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize is back for the 6th year! If you’re studying at a London university and have a collection of at least 8 books, magazines or any other printed items, don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to win £600. Apply on tinyurl.com/bookcollecti... before 25 Apr.

Check out this new east London arts & culture guide by MA Public History students at UCL East. They worked with our Outreach staff to create their historically & community informed guide & hope you'll find this resource interesting, playful & useful! artsandculturalguide.wixsite.com/ucl-special-...

The deadline for our Small Press in Residence is this coming Monday, March 31! Want to come and make things with us (and use the Slade's equipment) this summer? More info here: www.ucl.ac.uk/library/coll...

A great opportunity to get involved! Students on @ucl.ac.uk MSc Sustainable Heritage are running a @zooniverse.bsky.social #crowdsourcing project focused on undeciphered inscriptions found in our collections. Open to all and no prior experience necessary! www.zooniverse.org/projects/lun...

Three new publications will launch in 2026 to mark UCL's 200th anniversary! Meet the teams working behind the pages and trace two centuries of ground-breaking discoveries, architectural history and generational stories of staff and student life. @uclpress.bsky.social #UCL200 tinyurl.com/3kf374tf

Temporary job alert! We're really excited about our latest collaboration with @ucl.ac.uk's Information Studies and @wikimediauk.bsky.social and are looking to hire a project worker to explore Wikidata with our collections. If you're free over the summer please apply! www.ucl.ac.uk/information-...

It's a new week and we're looking forward to another event for our Small Press 60th anniversary on Wednesday! Join us for a workshop about African material in our Small Press collections, 12.30 - 14.00: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/surfing-th...