British Library Exhibition

British Library Entrance
Originally uploaded by swashford

A couple of weeks ago I headed up to London to check out the latest exhibtion - Sacred. If you have any interest in history, historical texts or the history of European culture, this is an exhibtion you really shouldn't miss. From a piece of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the most beautifully illuminated Qur'ans this is one of the most amazing collections of documents I have ever seen. If you can't make it to London then do have a look at the website because the British Library, as always, have done an excellent job of putting material online and have included some of the most spectacular in their Turning the Pages collection. They have also used Google maps to create an interactive map of some documents and there is a blog linked to the collection which includes thoughts from the learning team on taking young children around the exhibition. If you can make it to London before 23 September then go have a look for yourself, it's breathtaking and very thought provoking.

National Archives do Podcasts!

Recently I've been less in library world in the evenings and back researching my family history. On the hunt for blogs, RSS feeds etc that are not about libraries (I got tagged!) I came across the podcast series at the National Archives. If you're at all interested in history, genealogy or archives I have to recommend this series. So far I've listened to an introduction to the Family Records Centre (would be useful to have on an MP3 player on your first visit), Anthony Adolph talking about his famous ancestor who may have been the father of Charles II and an introduction to workhouse records . One of my ancestors was born in the Barnet Union Workhouse which may have been the inspiration for the workhouse in Oliver Twist so the workhouse podcast was particularly fascinating. Worth a listen.