Architecture

February update from the Library and Record Centre

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Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre regularly embark on new projects and acquire and catalogue new material, from rare books and manuscripts to modern publications.  These posts provide a brief update on some of our latest acquisitions, projects and upcoming events, to keep you up-to-date with our most recent news.

New books!

Enjoy reading one (or more!) of our recently acquired new books. Highlights include:

 

IMG_0017Please note that since October 2019 Lambeth Palace Library is closed on Fridays. This is to give the staff time to prepare the collections for the move to the new library building. Opening hours are now 10am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10am to 7.30 pm on Thursday. Additionally, 30th April 2020 will be the last day that the Lambeth Palace Library reading room will be open and also the last day that the Church of England Record Centre reading room will be open before the opening of the new building in early 2021. There might also be a delay in answering some types of enquiries.

Magazines and journals

Lambeth Palace Library also collects a variety of magazines and journals. You are very welcome to visit the Reading Room to consult these too. Some of our recently received titles include:

magazinesABTAPL Bulletin
Anglican and Episcopal History
Archives: the journal of the British Records Association
Bible Lands
Crucible: the journal of Christian social ethics
Churchman
Ecclesiastical Law Journal
English Historical Review
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Families Worldwide
Franciscan
Journal of Paper Conservation
Theology

We also receive the following papers and magazines weekly:

newspapersThe Church of England Newspaper
Church Times
The Tablet
TLS (The Times Literary Supplement)

 

Upcoming events

Dr Nicholas Fisher: ‘Bishop Symon Patrick (1626-1707) – unsung hero of the Restoration Church of England’.

Thursday 26 March, 6pm (admittance from 5:30pm)

Hall

In 2018, Nick Fisher was the first recipient of a Lambeth doctorate after the scheme had been rebranded ‘Lambeth Research Degrees in Theology’.  His thesis explored the writings and career of Symon Patrick from Rector of St. Paul’s, Covent Garden, to Bishop of Ely. This illustrated talk will explore the religious tensions of Charles II’s reign and suggest that Patrick’s contribution to the national Church has been unjustly neglected.

All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://nickfisherlambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 20 March.

Day conference on the seventeenth-century book collector Richard Smith (1590-1675) and his library.

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Wednesday 27 May (further details to follow)

Speakers will include Peter Lake, Jason Peacey, Andrew Foster, Vanessa Harding, David Pearson, Alan Nelson and Kenneth Fincham.

 

Professor Alan Nelson (University of California, Berkeley): ‘The Books of Henry Bradshawe, nephew of the regicide’.

Tuesday 2 June, 5:30pm (admittance not before 5pm)

Gate HouseThe name of Henry Bradshawe, and the family seat in Marple, Cheshire, in the seventeenth century, are familiar to bibliographers and to the book trade. According to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, John Bradshawe the regicide, being childless, bequeathed ‘all my Law Bookes,’ along with books ‘on divinity, history and other books’ to his nephew Henry, who maintained the family library until his death in 1698. This traditional account is an extreme simplification of the true story, which must start with the realization that books from the Bradshawe family library carry the ownership signatures of at least four Henry Bradshawes. Books from the library are scattered across the English-speaking world.

In association with the University of London research seminar on the History of Libraries. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://alannelsonlambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 29 May.

 

Annual General Meeting of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, followed by a lecture by Professor Richard Gameson: ‘Codex and Colour: the pigments of Lambeth Palace manuscripts’.

Thursday 18 June, 2:30pm (admittance not before 2pm)

RichardGamesonOne of the most striking aspects of medieval manuscripts is their ravishing colours. Scientific advances mean that it is now possible, using non-invasive techniques, to identify the pigments that were used to produce the illuminations in question. This lecture will report the findings from recent investigations of illuminations in Lambeth Palace Library, explaining the processes that were used, summarising the pigments that were identified, and contextualising them within broader patterns of medieval and renaissance painting.

This meeting, open to Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, will be followed by tea. Friends should book in advance with Melissa Harrison, Lambeth Palace Library, melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org  or telephone 020 7898 1400.

New Library update

The Library project continues to progress to time and budget and is now approaching completion with key systems being commissioned ahead of handover at the end of April.

From June to the end of the year we’ll be moving in the collections – which will finally bring under one roof (with solar panels on top!) all of the archives of the National Church Institutions that are currently stored in far less than ideal conditions in both Lambeth Palace and the Record Centre in Bermondsey. We’ll have more information as the year progresses about the closure of the Record Centre and among other things the move of the Records Management team to Church House.

The New Library was listed as one of ‘Five buildings to watch out for in 2020′ in the Architects’ Journal. You can read the article online here.

The images below show some great views of the New Library, captured recently by drone:

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2020 Getting ready to move!

Lambeth Palace Library and Church of England Record Centre – Collections and People Migration Project

Already into the new year and we have kick started preparations for moving teams and the collections into our lovely new building!  The new library is at commissioning stages with a handover date of April 20th, and we are on target to move in soon after.  A great deal has been achieved in terms of collection management and care, including cleaning, boxing over 35,000 items and finishing off preservation tasks for collections held in Morton’s Tower and CERC; as well as organising and mapping collections in readiness for a move starting around early June 2020 and finishing with the Great Hall collection being moved in October-November 2020.

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Luciana Marques, Preservation Project Assistant; and Alison Day, Archivist- both seen lifting, condition checking and boxing large vellum bound manuscripts currently stored in the Audience Chamber in Morton’s Tower

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CPD event for library and archive teams on an Introduction to the History and Preservation of Historic Photographs ending with a curator led tour of the V&A Photography Centre

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Fiona Johnston, Conservator and Arianna Mangraviti, Preservation Project Assistant assessing the cleaning and packing needs for our gold finishing hand-tools

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Image of a watermark found on conservation papers in the current conservation studio

20200115_125836Fiona and Maria organising our conservation papers for the new studio

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Maria Martinez Viciana, Preservation Project Assistant, attempting to delaminate a heavily water damaged parchment manuscript for the legal team to see specific details

Archive news

CareyThe vast majority of the papers from Archbishop Robert Runcie’s time in office (1980-1991) have now been catalogued and made publicly available. Significant progress is also being made with the appraisal and cataloguing of the papers of Archbishop George Carey. A range of other material has also been catalogued, such as small manuscript accessions relating to the Church Lads Brigade, Bishop Hensley Henson and the author Kathleen Bliss.

Recent archive accessions have included further material from the Community of St Andrew, an Anglican religious order founded in 1861. Discussions with some other potential donors are ongoing, but no new material will be considered in 2020 because of the needs of the library move.

The discovery of a translation of Tacitus as being by Elizabeth I, which is contained in the library manuscript MS 683, was the subject of a great deal of media coverage: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/royally-adorned This manuscript has been digitised and is available on the library’s online image gallery:
http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet/s/mn624k

Elizabeth

A large number of glass plate photographs of cathedrals taken by a Reverend Mann (MS 5180-5184), dating from around 1900, were also recently added to the image gallery.

 

Newly catalogued items

Among our newly catalogued rare books is a work that complements the Library’s already strong collection of twentieth-century private press editions of biblical texts. The Psalter or Psalms of David from the Bible of Archbishop Cranmer (Mile End: Essex House Press, 1902) is one of 250 copies ‘edited from the Cranmer Bible of 1540’ and contains woodcut initials and decorations designed by the editor, Janet Ashbee. The Essex House Press, founded in 1898 by C. R. Ashbee after the death of William Morris, was intended as a successor to Morris’s Kelmscott Press and employed some of his former staff. Essex House captured the sentiment of the Arts and Crafts movement and became one of the most successful private presses of the era, producing more than 70 titles.

P1280359

Another recent accession now available in the online catalogue is The Little Library (London, c.1868), a charming group of miniature Religious Tract Society works which are housed in their own decorated box. There are ten titles in all, each consisting of eight pages of text in their original orange paper covers: Lucy and Her Rose-Tree; The Cottage Child; The Busy Bee; The Marys of the Bible; The Two Sisters; Obey Your Parents; The Holy Day; Rosa and Frank; Speak Kind Words; The Little Boy’s Faith. Acquired with the support of the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library, these ten join a further 28 titles from the Little Library series which were presented to the Library by Mr Cliff Webb.

Little library

Don’t forget – you can also keep up-to-date with our news and events, and enjoy glimpses of some of the treasures in our collections, by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

September update from the Library and Record Centre

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Lambeth Palace Library and the Church of England Record Centre regularly embark on new projects and acquire and catalogue new material, from rare books and manuscripts to modern publications.  These posts provide a brief update on some of our latest acquisitions, projects and upcoming events, to keep you up-to-date with our most recent news.

FullSizeRender (18)New books!

Enjoy reading one (or more!) of our recently acquired new books. Highlights include:

 

Magazines and journals

Lambeth Palace Library also collects a variety of magazines and journals. You are very welcome to visit the Reading Room to consult these too. Some of magazinesour recently received titles include:
Crucible: the journal of Christian social ethics
Churchman
Faith and worship
The Friends Quarterly
Historic Churches
Journal of Anglican Studies
Journal of Ecclesiastical History
Journal of Paper Conservation
The Library: Transactions of The Bibliographical Society
Privacy & Data Protection

We also receive the following papers and magazines weekly:

newspapersThe Church of England Newspaper
Church Times
The Tablet
TLS (The Times Literary Supplement)

 

Please note that from October 2019 Lambeth Palace Library will be closed on Fridays. This is to give the staff time to prepare the collections for the move to the new library building. Opening hours will be 10am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and 10am to 7.30 pm on Thursday.

Upcoming events

‘Wanting more and wanting better’

traherne socBishop Richard Harries
Monday 23 September, 5pm (entrance not before 4:30pm)

The usual assumption is that Christianity disapproves of us wanting things. Thomas Traherne takes a very different line, saying we don’t want enough. But when we have moved out of innocent bliss into a world of sin and suffering, how do we manage this wanting?

In association with the Traherne Society. All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at  https://richardharrieslambeth.eventbrite.co.uk or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Tuesday 17 September.

‘William Holcot’s books: recantation and repentance in Reformation England’

Professor John Craig (Simon Fraser University)
Tuesday 26 November, 5:15pm (entrance not before 4:45pm)
Craig
William Holcot was a mid-Tudor gentleman, bibliophile and lay reader in the early Elizabethan church, whose experience of recantation during the reign of Queen Mary powerfully shaped his thoughts and actions during the Elizabethan period. Very little survives from Holcot’s life but the few pieces that do enrich our understanding of a particular stream of Elizabethan Protestantism. This event will be followed by a drinks reception.

In association with the University of London seminar on the Religious History of Britain 1500-1800.  All are welcome, but those wishing to attend should book a free ticket at https://johncraiglambeth.eventbrite.co.uk, or email melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org not later than Friday 22 November.

Christmas reception for the Friends of Lambeth Palace Library and their 1488-5jguests

Wednesday 4 December, 6pm (admittance from 5:30pm)

Christmas reception held in the State Drawing Room in Lambeth Palace.

Tickets £10 per head, to include wine and mince pies. To book, please send names in advance to Melissa Harrison, melissa.harrison@churchofengland.org or telephone 020 7898 1400, not later than Friday 22 November.

 

New Library update

Work on the new library is progressing well and the programme remains on track to complete in April 2020.

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From the street, the completed brickwork for the east and west wings are now clearly visible. Scaffold only remains in place to the central tower which will start to be dismantled from October 2019.

Internally, considerable progress has been made. The archive spaces are nearing completion with the final shelving units arriving at the start of the month ready for installation.

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The spaces which will be occupied by the staff have also progressed well. Finishes to the floors, ceilings and walls have started over the last period and will continue to the end of the project. Joinery is being put into the Reading Room, so we are now starting to see the wood panelling.

First floor office
First floor office
Reading Room
View from inside the Reading Room
Freezers in cold store
Freezers in the cold store

Externally, an exciting phase will start in the next quarter when the landscaping works for the Palace gardens commence. This will include extensive planting and a wetland habitat. The pond wall will be set out this week, and the excavations of the base of the pond started.

 

Lambeth Local History Fair

Local History Fair

The Library was thrilled to have a stall at the Lambeth Local History Fair, a now annual event that kicks off Lambeth Heritage Festival, which runs throughout September.  This year the Fair was held in Brixton Tate Libary on Saturday 7th September, and saw dozens of local societies and local history organisations come together to showcase their services, alongside a programme of illustrated talks, tours and walks.  Library staff were pleased to talk to a large number of visitors and let them know how the Library and Record Centre could be useful to their research.

The full programme for the Lambeth Heritage Festival 2019 can be found here.

 

Archive news

Material catalogued and now made available in recent months has included:

  • Papers of the English Hymnal Company (ref: EHC), 1905-2000.
  • Correspondence regarding the Book of Common Prayer (1928), mainly between Lambeth Palace and Colonel H M Oldham (ref: MS 5149), 1926-1959.
  • Letters and reports to Cyril Eastaugh, Bishop of Peterborough on South Africa (ref: MS 5150), 1965.

The Library’s collections have also been used in a range of recent publications and resources including:

Further content has been added to the Library’s public image management system: http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/luna/servlet, including a range of manuscripts (MS 1, MS 284, MS 774, MS 1143, MS 1502, MS 2022, MS 5082) and material from Sion College (Sion L40.2/E25, Sion L40.2/E42, Sion L40.2/E44, Sion L40.2/L2 and Sion L40.2/L7).

MS 774f178v
MS 774, f.178v

In the Conservation studio

Over 30,000 items have been boxed, with a big focus now on protecting CERC collections for the move next year. We are currently working through the procurement process for potential movers and, once awarded, the process of preparing the day-by-day scheduling of the move will begin.  In addition, the team are preparing for the studio move, as well as helping with new library requirements.
Only 217 days until we get the keys to the new building!

boxing

Don’t forget – you can also keep up-to-date with our news and events, and enjoy glimpses of some of the treasures in our collections, by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

 

 

A Helping Hand

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Mary Clayton-Kastenholz has been working as a conservation assistant at Lambeth Palace Library for the past month. Prior to this she volunteered with the printed books team assisting with cataloguing and collections care tasks. In this blog post Mary discusses her work as a conservation assistant.

In addition to assisting with the ongoing boxing and cleaning projects that are preceding the move to the new building, I have been helping to conserve some flat objects from the Church of England Record Centre. Most of these documents are from a series known as ‘chancel plans’; architectural drawings of the front section of churches drafted in the late 19th century, depicting proposed restoration schemes. These documents are an important, active legal record for the Church; in many localities, ownership of certain houses can still come with a formal obligation to care for the local church chancel (‘Chancel repair liability’). It is important for the Record Centre that these documents are accessible, stable, and clean for reader access.

Mary 8

Starting to clean G.2774 (CERC) with a chemical sponge

To clean these documents, I have used a ‘smoke sponge’, so called because it can be used to remove smoke damage and soot, as well as effectively removing surface dust and dirt. To begin I would first carefully unfold the document, setting aside any other items that may have been stored inside. In the case of the chancel plans, the outer document often contained several pieces of tracing paper illustrating aspects of the proposed 19th century renovations; often these also required surface cleaning. Once unfolded, I would weigh the document in several places, and carefully use the sponge to lift the dirt using a diagonal dabbing motion. Tracing paper, which becomes extremely brittle over time, is only cleaned where dirt is visible, usually on a few outer edges. Dirt on the tracing paper usually sits very loosely on the surface, so it is possible to remove it with almost to no pressure. With the larger paper chancel plans I would clean the whole surface taking care not to disturb any inscriptions in pencil. I was expected to test any other media (ink and water colour) to make sure they are not going to come off. The smoke sponge is made of vulcanised rubber or a synthetic equivalent and is essentially an aerated eraser which can remove any material drafted in graphite.

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Deed 40966 (CERC) before and after cleaning

I then used a Stabler Mars eraser, to carefully rub away any particularly ingrained dirt areas, but only on the edges and at a distance from the media on the page. Once the surface had been cleaned, I used a soft goat’s hair brush to brush away any loose dirt and miniscule pieces of sponge. Both sides of a document are cleaned, and in some cases the reverse sides, before they were rehoused in archival boxes. It is important to note that conservation surface cleaning does not return an item to its original state. The process described only removes surface dirt that is not deeply ingrained. Documents that have been exposed to high humidity often look very similar before and after cleaning, as the dirt sinks in and sets in the paper when it is exposed to moisture.

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ECF/11/4/392 (CERC) before and after cleaning

Once cleaned, the documents are carefully encapsulated in Melinex (archival quality polyester film) which is cut to a size just larger than the document and sealed on three sides. Any pieces of tracing paper that had been folded inside the plan are fully encapsulated, as any handling risks immediately damage to these fragile documents. The encapsulated tracing paper elements are then stored inside the Melinex envelope with the outer plan, so that all the elements that were stored together when they came to the lab are also together when they return.

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G.2774 (CERC) after a full clean

An interesting consequence follows the flattening and encapsulation of documents; when they are returned to the storage facility they take up far more lateral space than when they left. In their new form they are best stored in plan chests or large conservation-grade portfolios rather than in archival boxes. In planning the equipment for the new library, more plan chests and wide shelves are being projected, so that there will be space to store objects that change format as a result of their conservation.

Item of Interest: The Incorporated Church Building Society.

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This month’s Item of Interest post was written by Vida Milovanovic (Archives Assistant) and celebrates the 200th anniversary of the Incorporated Church Building Society and its connection with Lambeth Palace Library.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the Incorporated Church Building Society (ICBS) and to mark the occasion, a new publication ‘Free Seats for All’ by Gill Hedley will be launched on behalf of the National Churches Trust.

As the repository of the ICBS archive, Lambeth Palace Library is proud to showcase the collection and explore the history of the organisation.

Founded in 1818, the ICBS was the principal voluntary Society for promoting the building, enlargement, re-seating, and restoration of Anglican Churches throughout England and Wales. Set up by lay church-members, in response to a huge increase and redistribution in the population and because of a lack of state aid, ICBS was the foremost Society in building and restoring churches throughout the most active period of church building since the Middle Ages.

Image 1
ICBS 7232
St Mary Fishponds, Stapleton, Bristol
Alterations and additions, plan dated August 15, 1871.

A parallel initiative subsequently resulted in the government granting a million pounds towards the building of new churches under the guidance of the Church Building Commission.

The Society was incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1828. Whilst it did not build churches, it donated generous grants of up to £500 towards new buildings and, perhaps more importantly, as many parish churches were in a state of disrepair and could not offer accommodation for the poor, supported the restoration and enlargement of existing churches. From 1830 onwards, state aid weakened, and the Society increasingly began to donate money towards the building of new churches. The extra accommodation built was designed and constructed on the principle that it was to be available free of charge so that it was suitable for the poor. The administration of the society was transferred in 1982 to the Historic Churches Preservation Trust, which has now been succeeded by the National Churches Trust.

Image 2
ICBS 7972
Holy Trinity, Ingham, Norfolk
Lithograph from The Building News from July 21, 1876 with groundplan, elevations and interior view.

The Society required building request applications to be submitted in a consistent and uniform fashion, with drawings and plans of the proposed work. As a result of such strict guidelines, a wealth of records pertaining to individual churches were created and, as a consequence, a voluminous archive collection was born.

Image 4
ICBS 7878
Plan of parish church of St Nicholas, Romersham, 1877, featuring floor tiles in colourful detail.

The ICBS archive includes over 15,000 files relating to applications by parishes for grants from the Society. Catalogue details are accessible online. The earliest file dates from 1818 and the latest from 1982. Individual files may include application forms, correspondence, plans, building specifications, engravings or artists’ impressions, certificates of satisfactory completion, parochial subscription lists, parish magazines, and from 1867 onwards, photographs. The files include over 12,000 plans, accessible online via the Library’s image database. The Library also holds a series of minute books, dating between 1818-1989, numbered 1-36, and additional volumes, numbered 37-42, including a volume relating to the foundation of the Society. The volumes record the proceedings of the ICBS committees and its Annual General Meetings.

Image 3
ICBS 3686
Lithographic print of the exterior view of St Matthew’s Church in the parish of Lyncombe and Widcombe, Somerset, dated 1847.

Since becoming available, the records of the Incorporated Church Building Society have been extremely popular with our readers and the collection continues to be one of the most heavily consulted. The ICBS archive documents the work of numerous architects in building new churches and also enlarging and altering existing structures, including some of the most prominent practitioners of their day. Some researchers are interested in the work of particular architects or architectural trends, but the archive constitutes a source on the built heritage of thousands of communities throughout England and Wales, and many enquiries are from local historians interested in a particular church.