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Notable acquisitions
Sir Mortimer Wheeler
In September 2005 UCL Library Services were given the large personal archive of the brilliant archaeologist and popular television broadcaster, Sir (Robert Eric) Mortimer Wheeler, who died in 1976. The collection contains papers and correspondence spanning his whole career, from his days as Keeper of Archaeology in the National Museum of Wales to his work as Director General of Archaeology in India, through to his years at the Institute of Archaeology, now part of UCL, which he set up.
Lord Byron poem discovered
Following two exciting and important discoveries in the rare books and manuscripts collections, one of a previously unknown Lord Byron manuscript of one of his published works, and one of a manuscript of a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley previously mistakenly assigned, there was a flurry of media attention in the autumn of 2005, culminating in an article in the Times newspaper on 3rd January 2006 and an impressive if brief appearance by Susan Stead, the rare books librarian, UCL Special Collections, on the regional television evening news.
Lord Young's photographs
A collection of 22 magnificent photographs of the frozen landscapes of Antarctica taken by Lord Young of Graffham were given to the Library in early summer 2006, following their first exhibition, Degrees of Isolation, in London in April, in aid of the Prince's Trust.
David Lewis further deposits
In August 2005 we received on deposit two additional items from David Lewis on behalf of the Family Trustees, comprising the 1783 translated edition of one of the most celebrated and important travel accounts of the Middle East by Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela in the 12th century. Also deposited at the same time is a manuscript Hebrew/German dictionary dating from the early 1800s.
