Everyone can access UCL Special Collections digitally or in person. Our collections of rare, unique and historic archives & books cover themes including history of UCL, education, arts and sciences.
Collection Highlights
Finding Material
- You can search for rare books and other printed material on Explore.
- Archives and manuscripts are found on the Archives Catalogue.
- Search for digitised and digital content on Digital Collections.
For more information and video tutorials on how to use these resources to find material held by UCL Special Collections, learn about Our Collections.
News from our blog
Digitising the Annual Reports of the Institute of Archaeology, Volumes 1-13 (1938-1958)
This blog was written by Katie Meheux.
Liberating the Collections 2022: A Volunteer’s Experience of Searching UCL Special Collections
This guest blog post was written by Jane McChrystal , who spent five months volunteering at UCL Special Collections as part of the Liberating the Collections project.
Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize 2022: results announced
We are delighted to announce the winner and finalists of this year’s Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize 2022.
The prize is open to students at London-based universities, and this year applicants included students from Birkbeck, Royal Holloway, SOAS, the Royal College Of Art and UCL.
The New Curators Project Visit Tower Hamlets Archives
This blog was written by Arzama Hossain, a participant on this year’s New Curators Project. The project seeks to offer a cohort of 18-24 year olds from East London the chance to learn more about the cultural heritage sector, receive relevant training and to produce something for a real life heritage audience as part of Newham Heritage Month. In Arzama’s own words, it is ‘a project in which you learn and work’ at the same time.
New Jewish pamphlets
The Hebrew & Jewish Studies Collections in UCL Special Collections include a treasure trove of material in the form of pamphlets. There are over 9,000 pamphlets on a wide range of subjects throughout the field of Jewish Studies, particularly Anglo-Jewish history, Zionism and liturgy. The pamphlets date from 1601 onwards, and are in English, Hebrew, German and a number of other languages.
Eighteenth-Century Digitisation At UCL
This post was written by Caroline Kimbell, UCL Library Services
Q&A with Erick Jackaman, 2021 Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize Runner Up
Erick Jackaman very kindly talked to us about his experience applying for the Anthony Davis Book Collecting Prize and his fantastic collection ‘Read my Genders: A Trans for Trans Collection’. You can follow Erick on Instagram and Twitter @transingabout
New Summer School at UCL: What does it mean to be a journalist in turbulent times?
University College London (UCL) Special Collections and the Orwell Youth Prize team up to offer one-of-a-kind Summer School!
Students Duke and Eric Reflect on their BA Education Studies Placement with the Outreach Team
We have been fortunate to host two students on a 50 hour placement from the IOE’s BA in Education Studies, and as their time comes to a close with us, they have written a blog to share their experiences. Both students spent time learning about the Special Collections department before immersing themselves in the delivery of an Outreach project at UCL Academy – an after school club called Illustrate! which explores the use of illustration in our collection of rare books, archives and manuscripts.
Eric Xu