This Autumn’s exhibition at the UCL Art Museum is directly relevant to students opting to take Historical Bibliography.

Entitled Word and Image: Early Modern Treasures at UCL, it highlights objects from the period 1450-1800 in UCL Art Collections and UCL Library Services Special Collections, including Durer’s Apocalypse series, which we will be studying in INSTG012.

There are several pop-up exhibitions planned for lunchtimes, the first of which is on 4 October – Word Minus Image. I’m selecting examples of images that started out as illustrations for texts – from Durer to the present day. Often important as works of art in their own right, they exist at the intersection of Art History and Historical Bibliography, challenging both disciplines to consider the nature of illustration, the primacy (or otherwise) of text and the role of visual art within the book.  A phenomenon of the early modern period, the removal and resale of prints continues to be a thriving trade today, and this pop-up reflects this.

I am really delighted to have received Pioneer Award funding to work with Dr Caroline Bressey (Human Geography and Equiano Centre) on a project entitled The World of UCL 1828-1948: London’s Global University.

We aim to answer two related questions:

1. To what extent can we establish the Asian and Black presence at UCL in the early years, 1828-1948?
2. How can historical material about Asian and Black students be used in research, teaching and community engagement?

Between November 2011 and November 2012, we will be conducting research in the College Archives and establishing

• an exhibition
• an interdisciplinary symposium for UCL staff discussing how these materials might be used in research and teaching
• an interdisciplinary student conference
• creative workshops, creating art and writing from the sources

We are particularly looking forward to working with Dr Andrew Flinn (Information Studies) and College Archivist Gillian Furlong and to forming links with other researchers in the UCL community.

Watch this space for more news about the project.

Image: UCL Library Services Special Collections. Used with permission.