1934–2009: Celebrating 75 years of the new University Library
A great collection worthily housed
The new University Library building - designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott and partially funded by the Rockefeller Foundation - was opened on 22nd October 1934 by King George V.
Press reports of the time hail the Library as 'extraordinarily impressive', and draw attention to the building's 43 miles of shelving, the breadth of its holdings - ranging from priceless manuscripts to halfpenny comics - and the 'unobtrusive triumph of organisation' behind the transfer of 1,142,000 volumes from the old premises to the new.
This online exhibition draws on contemporary photographs, pictures and drawings from the Library's collections, many displayed in public for the first time.