Cambridge Digital Library

Humanity has long been captivated by rainbows - this collage contains over 1000 years of curiosity and wonder from all over the world! bit.ly/CamDigLib-Ra... This universal fascination is one reason 🌈 symbolise inclusion and a reason to have #Pride in the wonderful diversity of the world!

My Book of the Week this week is Gabriel Naudé's "Advis pour dresser une bibliothèque" (1627), which was translated into English by John Evelyn. There's a glorious online copy of the French, merci bien @camdiglib.bsky.social share.google/jmEGpk6hc9uv...

The ramparts of the Caburn Iron Age hillfort in East #Sussex sit at 146m OD and enclose a subcircular area of 3ha A glorious air photo taken in June 1952 © CACUP HK88 made available by the wonderful people @camdiglib.bsky.social www.cambridgeairphotos.com/location/hk88/ Happy #HillfortsWednesday

Check out the Stuart Hall Archive Project! Amazing resource that includes not only digitisation, but tools and teaching resources too! You can access the archive here: stuarthalldigital.bham.ac.uk And this news article is a great intro read! www.theguardian.com/society/2026....

Q: What do a lost pub, Henry Hazard, alterations in Silver Street, and a sugar factory in Hong Kong have in common? A: Digitised plans and maps of them were all recently added to our Maps Collection - along with about 800 others! Get your map on: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/...

Migrations. From ‘Ortus sanitatis’ (Mainz: Jacob Meydenbach, 23 June 1491). Inc.3.A.1.8[37] @theulspeccoll.bsky.social cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-INC-...

Why does one of the Royal Society's portraits of Isaac Newton contain a depiction of a snake eating its own tail, a symbol with alchemical connotations known as the ouroboros? Ainsley Vinall looks closer on our blog: https://royalsociety.org/blog/2026/07/snakes-and-leaders/

In Ipswich for #Constable250 and an exciting line up exploring Ground - Horizon - Sky! ... and Digitally augmented walking! walking-the-landscape.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Pillars of Punjab 🕌🛕👑 Old Survey of India maps reveal many forgotten monuments of bygone eras. Plenty remain standing today but have melded into the background of everyday life in South Asia. Enter the Kos Minar!

The subcircular Iron Age hillfort of Thundersbarrow in West #Sussex covers 1.2ha with entrances at the SE and North It has sadly been levelled by ploughing, as this dramatic aerial photo from 1975 shows 📷 © CACUP @camdiglib.bsky.social cambridgeairphotos.com/location/bsr60/ #HillfortsWednesday

1/8 5th July 1687 is often cited as the publication date of Isaac Newton’s “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica,” one of the masterpieces of modern science.⚛️ 🧪 🔭 But is it really so? Image source➡️ cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PR-ADV-... #histsci #Principia #Newton #science

The @libereurope.bsky.social 2026 Conference in Trondheim was a roaring success! An amazing time delivering a conference workshop exploring digital cultural heritage WHILST exploring the city and seeing what it could teach us about 'the power of libraries in uncertain times'! More soon! #LIBER2026

Libraries Without Borders' 'Ideas Box' provides safe spaces during times of crisis. A glimmer of hope and humanity during challenging times! www.librarieswithoutborders.us/ideas-box-pr/ Amazing!

Read our latest Blog Post about three female Salvation Army Officers in civilian internment during the Second World War. Colonel Mary Booth in Liebenau, Germany Major Margaret Burns in Changi, Singapore Major Mary Layton in Weixian, China www.salvationarmy.org.uk/about-us/int...

If you're a tech billionaire, or even just a millionaire, you could do something astounding

'Francis Bacon and the crisis of the palatinate' Quentin Skinner Lecture, 19 June https://bit.ly/442lfre Dr Samuel Zeitlin (UCL) will discuss Bacon’s evolving responses to the crisis of the Palatinate through writing and civil histories, in response to the onset of the Thirty Years War

We're pleased to announce a new RLUK project exploring the role of special & heritage collections in civic engagement & how collections can contribute more actively to institutional priorities, public value, & community engagement, led by @ckamposiori.bsky.social 📑 www.rluk.ac.uk/RLCE

So valuable to hear Samba Yonga's talk complexities of sacred objects in colonial collections! Imagine if we thought this deeply about all collection items? Check out her article: www.dataspace-culturalheritage.eu/en/news/why-... The Women’s History Museum of Zambia: www.whmzambia.org #DigiStoryFest

Great to see a solution as simple as pepper's ghost being used for innovative digital story telling! ...And what a great idea to incorporate through the idea of a postcard! #DigiStoryFest 5dculture.eu/scenario/cit...

💎Join us for Afterlives of Fragments, an event exploring making and unmaking across anthropology, archaeology, art & architecture We will engage with fragments not just as objects but as ways of thinking, sensing, and collaborating 16 May 1.30-5.30pm Online & CRASSH CB3 9DP https://bit.ly/4dd2O7I

Coming up this afternoon!

Can digital collections make research more inclusive and equitable? Join us to discuss as part of an @rluk.ac.uk research shift webinar on Tues 12 May, 2-3pm! www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rluk-rsp-m... #ResearchShift #Inclusive #Libraries

A time-capsule of biodiversity! This recently digitised Hanmer Herbarium contains almost three hundred specimens of pressed plants, collected by barrister and naturalist Edward Hanmer (1758–1821). cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-...

📣 Our April newsletter is now out - featuring our second user needs survey to help develop the Heritage Science Data Service as well as news from our members, funding, events and jobs. Read it here:

One of our absolute favourites! cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-LL-0...

See The Guidonian Hand, the Medieval System for Reading Music, Get Brought Back to Life

Last week, we co-hosted the annual 'History and Archives in Practice' conference, with partners @ihr.bsky.social, The National Archives and @unisheffieldlib.bsky.social. This year's theme was ‘Shaping Societies, Improving Lives'. More about #HAP26 and the projects showcased here: bit.ly/48j0Dhj

Fen to Fire brings to life the Must Farm pile-dwelling settlement, showing activity from construction to destruction. Each run-through is different with varied activities, events, weather and camera angles while the seasons change over time. The cause of the site’s fiery demise can also vary.

Two fiery dragon form the initial 'M'(oriente) which tells of events 'upon the death of King Agrippa'. Trinity Hall Cambridge Library, MS 4; Flavius Josephus, Historiae Antiquitatis Judaice; 12th century; Herefordshire, England; f.207v @camdiglib.bsky.social

The hidden histories of cities 🏙️ Heritage underpins our lives in so many ways, often unseen. But these hidden entanglements with the past can be revealed in historical maps. For today’s #MappingMonday we look at Bahawalpur, Pakistan, in 1908.

Here's an awesome natural history humanities PhD opportunity, working with Cambridge University Library & our insect & archive collections here at @zoologymuseum.bsky.social, exploring the links between entomology, life writing & environmental change. Please share! www.ccc.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/...

If only all catalogue entries were this beautiful?! The catalogues of Pitt-Rivers’ archaeological and anthropological collections, 1891-1896 - Nine volumes of stunningly detailed miniature paintings of each object, like this Japanese silver and enamel plate: cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-ADD-...

Apply for CRASSH events funding! 💫 Have you got an idea that may: - Foster the exchange of ideas across disciplines and cultures? - Forge new collaborations ? - Bring academic research to wider publics? - Explore research and artistic practice? Apply by 17 May 2026 https://bit.ly/3CaV97M

Working on TheNatureRecord.org means living inside data about US nature. But numbers carry only part of the story. In partnership with BowSeat.org, we’re excited to announce youth art winners whose work captures what data leave out—wonder, grief & belonging open.substack.com/pub/naturere...

Join us next week for this launch event and panel discussion on open research in the arts, humanities & qualitative social sciences. We're looking forward to sharing recent outputs from MORPHSS & hearing from a range of experts including @openreflections.bsky.social and @henrygonnet.bsky.social

A major new Open Research report is out: MORPHSS. It identifies 30 AHSS‑specific open practices and shows how they enhance rigour, transparency and community‑grounded research. Read more here www.ukrn.org/2026/03/11/l...