Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

Content warning: Please be aware that many of the documents and descriptions in this catalogue contain archaic language which reflect the attitudes of the time and are not appropriate today.

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

#BlackHistoryMonth #LambethPalaceLibrary #Archives #blackbritishhistory

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

You can read more by following this link: monumentoffame.org

A Monument of Fame

The Lambeth Palace Library Blog

monumentoffame.org

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

This Black History Month we amplify these stories. 'October is a time for particular focus, to speak even louder about this Black history that is British history.'

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

Featured is a powerful letter written in 1723 by an anonymous enslaved person in Virginia. Preserved in the archive at Lambeth Palace Library, the letter is a plea to the Bishop of London for freedom: written in secret, without a name and out of fear for punishment.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

She highlights how many records 'are more often connected to the Church of England’s ties to transatlantic enslavement and involve the subjugation and objectification of Black people. '

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 18h

In our most recent blog, Annabelle Gilmore, Project Co-ordinator, reflects on the complexities of exploring Black History within the archives of the Church of England.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

#BlackHistoryMonth #LambethPalaceLibrary #Archives #BlackBritishHistory

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

Sources: Lambeth Palace Library, Secker 10 f.149; The Linnean Society of London, ‘Black Lives in the Linnean Society Collections: Amelia Newsham’; Meleisa Ono-George, ‘Amelia Newsham & 18th century Black British histories’, Race and Resistance seminar series, Oxford 24/05/2024

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

Amelia’s story is complex, there is trauma as she experienced treatment as a curiosity but also resilience in how she was later able to choose to live her life. There is more to her life which is being told by Prof Meleisa Ono-George in her forthcoming book, My Name is Amelia Newsham.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

This handbill highlights the intersections of histories, this time Black histories. It is only in the library because it was a convenient scrap for the writer, Henry Rimius, famous for his anti-Moravian views, to draft an unfavourable remark. Rimius’ papers were later given to Archbishop Secker.

1 1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

Amelia was later able to take some control over her own life, she got married and had children, and she chose to be baptized in Exeter. Afterwards, considering herself free, Amelia left her enslaver and chose to exhibit herself. Taking what was used against her to make her own money.

1 2

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

She was studied by ‘men of science’ in an attempt to explain racialised human classifications which placed African people as inferior to European people, and acted as a method to dehumanise people of African ancestry.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

In 1753, Amelia was separated from her parents by her enslaver and brought to England from Jamaica where she was exhibited as a curiosity. The handbill, in its advertising to the public, highlights the particular objectification Amelia experienced from such a young age.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22h

This handbill makes a curiosity out of a young Black girl with the condition that today we call albinism, making her skin white and her hair blonde. We can be fairly confident that this handbill is referring to Amelia Newsham.

1 1 3

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 3d

Visit our website to book free tickets and to find out more information - www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/event/lambet...

#LambethPalaceLibrary #OpenDay #Books #Manuscripts #Archive #Library #CareerGrowth #CareerOpportunity

Lambeth Palace Library Careers Open Day – Lambeth Palace Library

www.lambethpalacelibrary.info

2

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 3d

🎓Join us for our Careers Open Day - a chance to explore exciting roles, meet the team and discover how to enter these professions.

📅What's on📅
👤Chat with staff!
📚Book a Library tour!
🕰Enjoy our collections!
🤝Meet professional bodies and learn about the wider sector!
🎶Explore our current exhibition

Picture of the reading room with yellow text over the top, reading Lambeth Palace Library Career Open Day, for ages 16-18 plus undergrads and career changers, 30th October opening times 10am-4pm, 15 Lambeth Palace Road, SE1 7JT

1 11 9

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 8d

For #FolkloreThursday here's the legendary King Arthur defeating an armoured giant depicted in the 15th century Chronicle of St Albans.

[LPL MS6, f56v]

#LambethPalaceLibrary #KingArthur #Manuscript

1 6 14

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 9d

Happy October! This woodcut of a cat with a mouse is the printer's device of the Venetian printer Melchior Sessa, and was used by his heirs in this 1598 book of sermons.

(Sion A66.0/OS5)

#RareBooks #SionCollege #Cats #Manuscripts

6 25

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 10d

Today the Church of England remembers Jerome (d. 420), translator of the Scriptures, and teacher of the Faith. Here we see Jerome at his writing desk in a detail from a late 13th century Bible.

[MS89 f.1r]

#LambethPalaceLibrary #Archives #Manuscript

1 6

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22d

For more on our local history sources, see our research
guide: tinyurl.com/5n8xu54z

To enquire further about our local history sources:
www.lambethpalacelibrary.info/using-the-li...
enquiry-form/

For more on the 2025 Lambeth Heritage Festival:
www.lambeth.gov.uk/lambeth-heri...

1 1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 22d

At the start of September, we were thrilled to showcase our services at the Lambeth Local History Fair in Clapham Library. Our collections contain a treasure-trove of local history sources, including plans of Lambeth pubs owned by the Church Commissioners!

A member of LPL staff at the Lambeth Palace Library stall

A photograph of the room at the Lambeth Local History fair.

1 1 6

Reposted by Lambeth Palace Library

Sam Brown @samuscript.bsky.social · 28d

Here is Ted Simonds from @lampallib.bsky.social talking about
Sion College Library’s donors. His research is piecing together stories of people & books, both on & off the pages of the Book of Benefactors, and emphasised (for me!) how much bookish networks overlapped in the period. #BuiltWithBooks

1 1 1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 29d

More surprising still, it’s in silver – unexpected, given that Hutton had qualms over the cost of becoming archbishop.

1

Lambeth Palace Library @lampallib.bsky.social · 29d

📣 New acquisition! 📣

Seal matrix of Matthew Hutton, Archbishop of Canterbury for just one year, 1757-58.

An unusual survival - archbishops’ seals were often recycled into the seal for the next incumbent.

[L-2025-4]

#LambethPalaceLibrary #Acquisition

Seal matrix of Matthew Hutton. Seal in wax and matrix in silver [L-2025-4]

1 1 10