A decorated Christmas tree with text overlaid: Winter Opening Hours. The Archive Reading Room will close for the Christmas break on 19th December and re-open on 6th January. It will also be closed for our bi-annual Collections Week from 12th - 16th January.
Please note, we will be closed to readers across parts of December and January, so plan your visit to us accordingly 👇❄️
Two members of our team stand back to back with arms crossed behind our stall filled with leaflets
We’ve been having a fantastic time at History Day @senatehouselib.bsky.social ! We’ll be here for a few more hours so make sure to say hi and get some free pens and badges ✍️
📣 Over 2 million WW2 service records to go online for the first time. Ancestry will add over 2 million British Army infantry service records on 6 November 6; along with their other military records they will be free to view from that date until 12 November. #FamilyHistory #OnePlaceWednesday
What a fascinating story!
A black-and-white class photograph, showing 5 lines of students dressed in 1960s clothing.
A black-and-white photograph of a large statue of Reggie the lion being carried by students, with lines of students on either side holding each others' shoulders. Old cars and onlookers are seen in the background.
A black-and-white photograph of a woman sitting at a desk with a large keyboard and large old PC monitor in front of her. A book about Henry II sits next to her.
...formal class photos, a conga line of Reggie carriers, and a student hard at work on a very retro computer - phew!
We hope you work hard and play hard just like they did, and when it comes to your assessments remember that we may well have a load of records to help you with your studies 👋
A black-and-white photograph of the Strand Campus, looking at St Mary's Church, with the Strand building on the right. Old cars drive inbetween.
A black-and-white photograph of two dental students treating a patient in a chair.
A black-and-white photograph of a tug-of-war game. A line of men pull a rope cheered on by a large crowd.
A big welcome to all of our new students starting today, and to those returning too!
We thought you might like to see a snippet of King's-gone-by, so we've gone black-and-white. Digging through our archive, there's views of the Strand, dental students hard at work, fun & games with a tug-of-war...
A table filled with archival preservation material: stacks of empty boxes, archival folders and labels
We undertake these Collections Weeks twice a year so that the service you get the rest of the year is far better! This week we will also be rearranging objects in the stores and working on our new location system. Stay tuned!
8 large plastic boxes filled with material sit on the floor of the reading room, with bookcases behind.
We take this time to repackage large new collections into archival boxes and folders so they are better protected and better stored, and alongside that we create basic box lists so that we have an idea of what we have received.
A table filled with photos, frames and boxes of archival material
At the start of day 2 of our Collections Week the reading room is looking a little chaotic with new accessions that we’re sorting, but by the end of the week it should be much more organised! 🧵 #archives
A screen advertising the ARA Conference 2025 in Bristol
We're so happy to be at the first day of the Archives & Records Association Conference! There's so many amazing talks from industry professionals and the first keynote speaker, Julz Davis, gave such food for thought to start us all off. Can't wait for all the other speakers over the next few days...
Fantastic!
Three students in the archive reading room around a table, looking at an open manuscript.
Congratulations to all A Level students receiving your results today! For those of you who will be joining us at King's, we can't wait to meet you.
Our archives are open for students of any subject, and with millions of documents there'll be something of use to you. Make sure to come say hi!
Don't miss out on this event tomorrow! 👇
We'll be sharing material from our collections with a focus on the British military and civilian experience in India during the Raj, and South Asian students at King’s.
It's free and online!
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/exploring-...
The seal is in remarkable condition!
How interesting!
A black-and-white photograph of a kitten, whose feet are in a plate of milk, with milk dripping around its mouth. It is captioned "I must get an ETHICON mug at the next Congress".
A black-and-white photograph of the face of a cat looking startled, and a caption "I am telling you "see-through" gowns are not acceptable".
It is a small booklet of several pages of cat pictures with humorous* captions, akin to our internet cat pictures today!
*some we didn't get but must be hilarious to those in the industry, we're sure.
#InternationalCatDay
A booklet front cover with a meowing kitten, called "Ethicon cat-a-log".
It's #InternationalCatDay, so we had to find something suitable from the archives!
This "cat-a-log" was created in 1974 (based off a 1950 original) by Ethicon, manufacturer of suture products and suture technology, and it forms part of our King's College Hospital collection (Ref: KH/PUB/1/2/18)
This was located right opposite our university - we wonder if any of our staff or students visited?
We're excited to be taking part in this free South Asian Heritage Month event! Held online on 14th August, more details below.
We'll be sharing material from our collections with a focus on the British military and civilian experience in India during the Raj, and South Asian students at King’s.
Aha! Mystery solved!
We think it's a "B" not an "R" as it matches the B in Bland and doesn't match the R in road, but otherwise none the wiser!
He gives a lot of detail of the horror of his days, and yet still is clearly holding back recounting the full experience so as not to upset his parents too much. He later became a medical student at Guy's Hospital, providing a neat connection between our military and college collections! #archives
A photo of part of a letter spread on a table. It begins "My Dear Mum and Dad" and is dated 25th October 1942.
Our military collection is made up of personal papers, and that means you can come across some touching pieces.
This letter in our Cdr Burrows collection was written by Anthony Vincent Large to his parents in 1942 and it recounts his harrowing 38.5 days adrift at sea after his ship was torpedoed.
We're excited to be taking part in this free South Asian Heritage Month event! Held online on 14th August, more details below.
We'll be sharing material from our collections with a focus on the British military and civilian experience in India during the Raj, and South Asian students at King’s.
We're hiring! 📣
We are looking for a new Head of Archives to lead and develop our outstanding archive collections, services and team. Find full details below - closing date is 17th August!
www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/120005-...
#ExploreYourArchives #HeritageJobs #AcademicJobs
We're hiring! 📣
We are looking for a new Head of Archives to lead and develop our outstanding archive collections, services and team. Find full details below - closing date is 17th August!
www.kcl.ac.uk/jobs/120005-...
#ExploreYourArchives #HeritageJobs #AcademicJobs
Apologies, the ALT-text didn't save: a man in a black suit and hat holds a large metal megaphone in front of a bush, with the photograph caption reading "Warwick Pageant: Mr Louis N Parker as a soloist; playing the Megaphone"
