{"id":109,"date":"2022-04-06T16:22:21","date_gmt":"2022-04-06T15:22:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/?page_id=109"},"modified":"2025-07-16T10:50:36","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T09:50:36","slug":"canterbury-cathedral-archives-and-library","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/canterbury-cathedral-archives-and-library\/","title":{"rendered":"Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Cathedral Archives and Library hold a fantastic and varied collection of historic records, including manuscripts, photographs, maps and printed books dating from the late 8th century up to the modern day. These cover a range of themes including national and local history, politics, travel, natural science, medicine, church history, and theology.<\/p>\n<p>You can explore the archive holdings using <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/archives.canterbury-cathedral.org\/\">the Cathedral Archives catalogue<\/a><\/strong> and the Cathedral Library\u2019s holdings through <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/librarysearch.kent.ac.uk\/client\/en_GB\/kent\">LibrarySearch<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>To find out more, you can <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/static.canterbury-cathedral.org\/old\/heritage\/archives-library\/\">visit their website.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"CIDb1374778-c1e1-4d20-819c-8bde1f2abf20\" data-sessionid=\"a5e107f8-ee16-1254-c107-5a258baefd8d\" data-shapeids=\"6\" data-slideid=\"\"> <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-163 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/files\/2025\/07\/CCAL.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"518\" height=\"259\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some highlights of the collections for History students are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Medieval archive of the Cathedral<\/strong> \u2013 You have a UNESCO UK Memory of the World Register collection on your doorstep! As well as the medieval records of the Cathedral dating from the 9<sup>th<\/sup> century onwards, the collection also includes treasures such as the Accord of Winchester, which has the signature of William the Conqueror on it, and illuminated books of hours.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Medieval archive of the City of Canterbury<\/strong> \u2013 The records of the City of Canterbury date from c.1155 to modern day. These include royal charters such as that of Henry II (our earliest surviving city charter), and records of the city court and jail.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Medieval and Early Modern printed literature <\/strong>\u2013 We have a wonderful selection of incunabula and works such as Dives and Pauper (1496), early modern editions of Chaucer, a Shakespeare Second Folio, rare surviving play quartos, and works by Spenser, Dryden, Kyd, and Aphra Behn amongst many others.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Early Modern proclamations and politics <\/strong>\u2013 Some highlights include official printed proclamations (from Henry VIII through to Queen Anne), city charters, and the handwritten diaries of Elizabethan courtier and politician Sir Arthur Throckmorton.<\/li>\n<li><strong>English Civil War, Commonwealth, Restoration, and the Glorious Revolution pamphlets <\/strong>\u2013 We have a fantastic collection of 17<sup>th<\/sup> century pamphlets covering news, events, and debates on both a local and country-wide level. Highlights include coverage of Canterbury\u2019s \u201cPlum Pudding Riots\u201d and the Kentish uprising, King Charles\u2019 speech on the scaffold, and pamphlets surrounding the invasion of William, Prince of Orange.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Early Modern and 18<sup>th<\/sup> century medical books<\/strong> \u2013 The collections include a number of herbals and botany books, volumes on surgery, anatomy, and medicine, and health guidance such as how to prevent and cure the plague (1636).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Medieval to Georgian travel and exploration <\/strong>\u2013 We have a fantastic range of printed accounts of travels to far-flung countries across the world, from a 1477 guide to Rome to voyages of the known world in the early 19<sup>th<\/sup><\/li>\n<li><strong>Slave trade debate<\/strong> <strong>pamphlets<\/strong> \u2013 These include books and pamphlets formerly belonging to the abolitionist Sir Robert Harry Inglis, MP, as well as several books formerly owned by William Wilberforce. The works include arguments both for and against the slave trade.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Victorian material <\/strong>\u2013 This includes editions of the <em>Illustrated London News<\/em> (1852-1863, 1897, and 1937) with articles covering events such as the death of Prince Albert and the progression of the American Civil War, as well as smaller pieces on fashion, and crime reports. We also hold a Victorian woman\u2019s scrapbook: a fascinating insight into what interested women of the era.<\/li>\n<li><strong>World War I <\/strong>\u2013 Both the City and the Cathedral hold material from WWI. Highlights include records from the Dane John and St Augustine\u2019s College VAD Hospitals (including patient records, accounts, and photographs), the war diary of F. S. Maxted (1914-1920), papers relating to the Canterbury and District War Work Depot (1915-1919), a child\u2019s ration book, and a circular letter concerning the role of women after the war.<\/li>\n<li><strong>World War II <\/strong>\u2013 The Cathedral\u2019s and the City\u2019s holdings include bomb maps for Canterbury, and letters relating to the war memorial. We also hold Canterbury\u2019s civil defence records, which cover death and injury records, air raid protection, the home guard, evacuation, and war damage.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library<\/strong> work closely with <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/special-collections-archives\/\">Special Collections &amp; Archives<\/a><\/strong> to offer teaching, events and collaboration that spans both institutions\u2019 collections.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Cathedral Archives and Library hold a fantastic and varied collection of historic records, including manuscripts, photographs, maps and printed books dating from the late &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/canterbury-cathedral-archives-and-library\/\">Read&nbsp;more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68598,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68598"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":164,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/109\/revisions\/164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/history-library-guide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}