Exhibitions

Information about themed exhibitions in the Main Library which include material from UCL Special Collections, as well as temporary and permanent exhibitions held at other UCL Libraries and elsewhere.

UCL Library Services has extensive archives, rare books, manuscripts, personal papers, historical records and artefacts across a range of subjects. Each year there are themed exhibitions in the Main Library that draw particularly on highlights from UCL Special Collections. There are also both temporary and permanent exhibitions at other UCL libraries. On occasion, the libraries arrange exhibitions at alternative UCL and external locations too.

Current exhibition

Rebel, React, Reform: Making the UK Parliament

Throughout its history the UK Parliament has been challenged and re-modelled. Calls for change have come not only from outside Parliament, but also from within as MPs have rebelled against their sovereign, reacted to injustices, and worked tirelessly, if not always fruitfully, for reform.
Curated in partnership with the History of Parliament Trust, this year’s exhibition explores some of the key moments of change in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries using manuscripts, archives and rare books from UCL Special Collections. The exhibition will run from 2 March - 11 December 2020.

View the exhibition catalogue

Previous exhibitions

Our last 3 exhibitions are listed below.

Information about all our previous exhibitions is also available.

From Small Library Beginnings: a brief history of UCL Library Services
March - December 2019

Dangers and Delusions"? Perspectives on the women's suffrage movement
February - December 2018

East Side Stories: Londoners in transition
January - December 2017

Current exhibitions

Queen Square Library, Archive & Museum, UCL Institute of Neurology & The National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery (UCLH)
The Queen Square Archive, Rare Books and Museum collections are housed in and managed by the Queen Square Library.

Previous exhibitions

Bobby and Stillman Exhibition, UCL Science Library
Crispin Hughes and Susi Arnott collaborated with Swedish mathematician Sofia Olhede (UCL Big Data Institute) on inter-tidal spaces and fluid dynamics. The exhibition ran in the Science Library Cafe.

Banham Bartlett and Beyond at UCL Bartlett Library
Banham taught at The Bartlett as senior lecturer of architectural history from 1964-1978. The exhibition sought to revive Banham's legacy, elucidating his role at The Bartlett and his wider cultural impact.