Senate House Library

📚🌈 Show & Tell: Gay Coming of Age in the Haud Nominandum Collection

Join Andrea Carboni for a fascinating exploration of gay coming-of-age literature drawn from Jonathan Cutbill’s Haud Nominandum Collection.

From Finistere by Fritz Peters to The Motion of Light in Water by Samuel Delany, this special selection examines what it meant to grow up gay in the second half of the twentieth century, challenging myths of adulthood and tracing q***r lives through literature.

🗓 Friday 3 July 2026
⏰ 3:00–4:30pm
📍 Senate House Library, London (in person) + online option available
🎟 Free – booking required via Eventbrite

The in-person event includes:
✨ A 40-minute talk
📖 Time to explore the exhibition display
💬 Q&A session

The exhibition will remain on display in the Library throughout July and August for members to visit.

Reserve your place and discover more about this remarkable collection of q***r literary history at the link in our bio.

What do a Swiss pianist, a German-Sinti boxer, and an Indian nationalist and yogi have in common? 🎹🥊🧘

They were all portrayed by the remarkable German-Jewish sculptor Elsa Fraenkel.

Born in 1892 as Elsa Rothschild, she trained at the Karlsruhe Academy before marrying Dr Georg Fraenkel in 1918. The family settled in Hanover, where she became part of artist Kurt Schwitters’ circle and established herself as a celebrated portrait sculptor, exhibiting across Germany.

When the N***s came to power in 1933, Elsa fled with her children to Paris, and two years later to Britain. Despite exile, she continued sculpting and exhibiting internationally, showing her work in the UK, Israel, the United States, and post-war Germany.
In 1970, she moved to India to be with her daughter and family, where she spent her final years and died in 1975.

Elsa Fraenkel’s life and work reflect a journey of artistic resilience, displacement, and enduring creativity across continents.

📚 Refugee Week is here (15–21 June), and we’re marking the occasion with a new display of loanable books in the Catalogue Hall.

Refugee Week is the world’s largest arts and culture festival celebrating the contributions, resilience, and creativity of refugees. This year’s theme encourages us to focus on simple acts—small everyday actions that help create connections and support refugees.

One suggestion is to read a book, so we’ve curated a selection of titles written by refugees or exploring refugee experiences. These books examine the reasons people become displaced and the challenges they face when seeking safety, while highlighting stories of strength, creativity, and resilience.

The display will be available until the end of June—come and explore it during your next visit to Senate House Library.

fantastic new resource now available through Senate House Library for students, researchers, and anyone with an interest in literary history.

British Literary Manuscripts Online provides access to more than 4,500 digitised manuscript facsimiles spanning nearly 800 years of literary history, from the medieval period through to the Victorian era.

The collection includes letters, diaries, notebooks, literary drafts, translations, journals, and more from some of the most influential writers in English literature, including:
📖 William Blake
📖 The Brontë sisters
📖 Charles Dickens
📖 Geoffrey Chaucer
📖 William Shakespeare
📖 Oscar Wilde

Among the highlights are the complete autograph manuscript of Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë and author-corrected typescripts of The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde.

The archive is divided into two major collections:
🔹 Part One (c.1660–1900) – covering the Restoration through the Victorian era
🔹 Part Two (Medieval and Renaissance) – featuring manuscripts from Middle and Early Modern English literature, including works such as Beowulf and The Book of Margery Kempe

The platform also offers a range of powerful research tools, including:
✅ Advanced search and filtering options
✅ Author A–Z browsing
✅ Collection-based searching
✅ Topic Finder visualisation tools
✅ Learning Centre resources covering primary source research, citation, copyright, and research methodologies
This resource provides an exceptional opportunity to engage directly with primary source materials and gain unique insights into the creative processes, historical contexts, and textual development of some of literature’s most significant works.

Available via the Senate House Library A–Z Databases list, with offsite access for Central University and School of Advanced Study members, and onsite access for University of London federation staff and students.

We need your help! 🕵🏻‍♂️

The signatures you’re looking at were collected on a menu by Fritz Paneth - an eminent German-Jewish chemist who had to flee N**i Germany with his family - at a dinner to celebrate he fiftieth anniversary of the discovery of Radium, organised by the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique () in Paris, August 1950.

His menu from the event is part of the Heinz Post Papers (HPO) at Senate House Library, and is signed by over 20 eminent scientists, including Eve Curie, Eva Ramstedt, Marguerite Catherine Perey, Ellen Gleditsch, Robley D Evans, Gioacchino Failla, Irène Joliot-Curie, Georges Champetier, Francis Perrin, René Lucas, Dennis Shaw and Joseph Weiss.

However, there are a number of signatures that we cannot identify (numbered) and we’re reaching out to you to help us find out who they are. Let us know in the comments if you’re able to recognise any 🔬🔎

📖✨ Last week we welcomed delegates from the 78th National Postgraduate Colloquium in German Studies for a special visit to the Caxton exhibition at Senate House Library.

The visit highlighted a wonderful collaboration between the Library and the Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, bringing together material from both collections to explore the history of German printing and publishing.

Among the highlights were:
📚 An incunable Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) printed by Anton Koberger — the most important printer in fifteenth-century Germany
📜 The first edition of Martin Luther’s German New Testament — a landmark in publishing history

Delegates enjoyed experiencing these remarkable works up close: feeling the strength and quality of the paper in the Legenda Aurea, spotting the controversial crowned dragon imagery in the Luther Bible, and discovering the many stages involved in producing early printed books — from casting type to illuminating finished pages.

A fascinating afternoon of print history, craftsmanship, and collaboration. ✨

📚✨ Join us online for Communities of Publishing and Printing — a fascinating afternoon exploring the worlds of ephemera, artists’ books, pamphlets, and radical print culture.

Hosted by, this free online event celebrates the launch of the Spineless Wonders: The Power of Print Unbound exhibition.

🗓 22 May 2026
⏰ 2:00–3:00 PM
📍 Online
🎟 Free via Eventbrite

Talks include:
• the anarchic literary world of bookseller and publisher Charlie Lahr
• how storytelling and publishing helped transform a South East London community
• hand-making books and reimagining the reading experience

From radical pamphlets to community activism and experimental bookmaking, discover how print continues to shape culture and connection.

Tickets available from the link in our bio!

📚✨ Fresh in the Catalogue Hall for May! ✨📚

Our new loanable books display is here — and this month we’re celebrating the power of anthologies! From diverse voices and unforgettable stories to bold styles and new perspectives, these collections bring so much together in one place. 🌍📖

Whether you’re discovering a new favourite genre, exploring different viewpoints, or dipping into something completely unexpected, there’s an anthology waiting for you at Senate House Library.

Stop by the Catalogue Hall and see what speaks to you this May ✨