British Library blogs
About our blogs
These blogs from our curators, subject specialists and guest bloggers express the thoughts and opinions of individual British Library staff members and guests.
Latest posts
In Search of Vanilla
10 August 2022 Americas and Oceania Collections
Kathryn Sampeck is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Illinois State University and was the 2021-22 British Library Eccles Centre Fulbright Scholar. I arrived in London with all kinds of baggage—not only clothes, personal items, and tech to see me through...
Sanitary technology at East India House and the India Office
09 August 2022 Untold lives
In a previous post, we looked at issues of sanitation at the Fort William Garrison in Bengal, which included a description and plan for new urinals. This is not the only reference to urinals in the India Office Records and...
Breaking the news of the fall of Richard II
09 August 2022 Medieval manuscripts
The oldest item in the British Library’s current Breaking the News exhibition (open until 21 August 2022) is an account of the Battle of Flodden in 1513. This small pamphlet is the earliest surviving example of printed news in Britain,...
Cats on the web and in the web archive
08 August 2022 UK Web Archive
By Jason Webber, Web Archive Engagement Manager, British Library Domestic cats have featured in human life for thousands of years. They can make an incredible impact on many of our lives and even if you don’t have one, you may...
All British Library blogs
Americas studies
What's on the mind of Team America?
Asian and African studies
From our subject specialists and curators
Collection care
Behind the scenes with our conservators and scientists
Digital scholarship
Supporting research with digital content
Endangered archives
News about the projects saving vulnerable material from around the world
English and drama
On literature and theatre collections from the 16th century to the present day
European studies
Exploring Europe at the British Library
Innovation and enterprise
Business, innovation and enterprise
Living knowledge
Behind the scenes at the British Library
Maps and views
Cartographic and topographical materials at the British Library
Medieval manuscripts
Digitisation and other projects
Music
News about our music collections and services
Science
The latest scientific developments
Social science
Projects, events, resources and research methods
Sound and vision
News from the Library’s Sound and Moving Image teams
The Newsroom
News about yesterday’s news, and where news may be going
UK web archive
Announcements and information about the UK Web Archive
Untold lives
Sharing stories from the past, worldwide