Engaging with Founding Collections in the 21st century

Large research libraries of Europe are typically proud of their founding collections, and still have a vivid interaction with them. The founding collections mirror the lives, interests and relationships of the individuals who amassed them, they are a witness of the social and personal biases of the times, they reflect political geography and instances of preservation and loss. The founding collections may be products of chance encounters, wealth, discovery, acts of generosity, or even acts of theft or looting. The process of collecting and transformation into a founding collection is thus partly deliberate and partly ruled by chance. Founding collections can shape the identities of the institutions they belong to for a very long time – perhaps even permanently - which is the theme of this conference.

One event, two days, two venues
- The first day of this two-day conference took place at the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh on 21 October 2025. The programme can be viewed here.
- The second day of this two-day conference will take place at the Guildhall Library in London, on 5 December 2025. You can attend in person or view the presentations on YouTube. The programme is available here.

How to register your attendance
It is a free event, but we ask that you register your attendance, by writing an e-mail message to secretariat@cerl.org, indicating whether you wish to attend the London conference in person or online (and if in person, please let us know a) whether you have any dietary requirements, and b) whether you want to join the dinner - at your own expense).

Directions
https://www.guildhall.cityoflondon.gov.uk/find-us

09:30 Registration with coffee
10:00 Welcome

• Claudia Fabian, CERL Chair
• Representatives of the Guildhall and the CERL London Libraries Group

Panel 1 Moderator: Julian Harrison, British Library
10:15 Melanie Strong – Guildhall Library 600th connecting the past to the present
10:45 Irini Solomonidi – Joannes Gennadius and the Internationality of Hellenism: The Legacy of a Founding Collection
11:15 Karen Attar – Maths and Classics, 1871-2025: The University of London Library’s Founding Collections
11:45 Renaud Milazzo – From Seminary Library to Research Hub: The Venerable English College in Rome and the Making of a Transnational Catholic Collection.

12:15-13:15 Lunch

Panel 2 Moderator: Charlotte Murphy (CERL)
13:15 Dunstan Speight – “A treasure not fit for every man’s view”: the expanding role of Lincoln’s Inn Library
13:45 Roman Koot – The Van Rijckevorsel collection at the Rotterdamsch Leeskabinet: the library of a distinguished Rotterdam family preserved
14:15 Julianne Simpson – A Publick Librarie for the use of schollars and others well affected to resort unto: the library established by Humphrey Chetham in Manchester

14:45-15:15 Tea break

Panel 3 Moderator: Julia King, Lambeth Palace
15:15 Giles Mandelbrote – Aby Warburg’s legacy: The Warburg Institute Library and Collections
15:45 Katharina Kaska – All in private hands - Founding collections at the Austrian National Library
16:15 Hugh Cahill - Foundation Before Foundation: The Three Founding Collections of Lambeth Palace Library, 1583-1633
16:45 Tim Pye - ‘Used for library purposes’ – the origin of the National Trust as a library organisation
17:15-17:30 Concluding remarks by Julia King

17:30 Drinks reception - generously sponsored by the Antiquarian Booksellers Association
19:00/19:30 Informal dinner (at participants' own expense)

Dunstan Speight

• Abstract: Lincoln’s Inn Library (as a collection, rather than a building) is the oldest law library in the country and the oldest library in London, extending back to 1475. The Inns of Court are often characterised as “the third university” during the early modern period and developed collections more in line with an Oxbridge college library rather than concentrating on black letter law. The bequest of Matthew Hale’s collection of manuscripts in 1676 provided the foundation for the Inn’s superlative manuscript collection, now extending to over 1,000 items. The C19th saw further generous bequests and donations in addition to the Inn purchasing extensively from the auction sales of major collections. In the late C19th, the Inn decided to concentrate on its legal collections to provide a comprehensive library for practising barristers and Bar students. It also developed significant holdings for other Common Law jurisdictions, a reflection of the strong links between the Inn and the legal profession in other countries. This paper will discuss how the Library balances the provision of an up-to-date legal information service with supporting access for researchers to the historical collections and wider access to unique items in the collection via digitisation and exhibitions.
  
• Biography: Dunstan Speight is the Librarian of Lincoln’s Inn, one of the four Inns of Court. Prior to joining the Inn in 2016, he worked in City law firm libraries, the Law Society of England and Wales and the Middle Temple. At the Inn he is responsible for the Inn’s library, archives and art collection.
  

Giles Mandelbrote

• Abstract: The Warburg Library is the largest collection in the world focused on the afterlife of antiquity and the survival and transmission of culture, with a particular emphasis on medieval and renaissance studies. The core of the collection is made up of 60,000 books from the Kulturwissenschaft Bibliothek Warburg (KBW) in Hamburg, founded by Aby Warburg (1866-1929). In 1933 the entire library and its staff were transferred to London to escape Nazi Germany. Volumes from Warburg's personal collection can still be found throughout the library. Now part of the University of London, the collection has grown to some 370,000 volumes, mostly available for browsing and classified by subject according to a unique system, designed to facilitate interdisciplinary research. This paper will look at the influence of Warburg’s original vision and how the Warburg Library has been shaped by later circumstances.
• Biography: Giles Mandelbrote is Librarian and Director of Collections at the Warburg Institute, University of London. He was previously Librarian of Lambeth Palace Library and Curator of British Collections 1501-1800 at the British Library. Among his publications are volume II (1640-1850) of The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland and Libraries within the Library: The Origins of the British Library's Printed Collections.

Irini Solomonidi

• Abstract: The Gennadius Library—at once the creation and enduring legacy of Greek diplomat and bibliophile Joannes Gennadius (1844–1932)—offers a compelling case study in how a founding collection can shape the identity of a research institution over time. Conceived from the outset as a gift to the international scholarly world and formally donated in 1922 to the American School of Classical Studies at Athens, the Library was also a tribute to his father, Georgios Gennadius, an esteemed educator and key figure in the Greek War of Independence. It embodied a principle of openness rooted in Joannes Gennadius’s intellectual cosmopolitanism and classical education, echoing Isocrates’ Panegyricus, in which “Greeks are called those who share in our education.” The core of the Library remains the collection Gennadius personally assembled: a bibliographic portrait of Hellenism across antiquity, Byzantium, and the modern era, informed by national vision and shaped by diplomacy, erudition, and chance. This founding core has shaped not only the Library’s origins but also its evolution and growth. While the identity of the Library is deeply rooted in Joannes Gennadius’s vision, it continues to evolve, responding to new scholarly priorities, acquisitions, and forms of engagement. As perspectives shift, the collection invites critical reappraisal: contemporary approaches to material culture, identity, and memory allow us to read it anew, revealing not only its enduring relevance but also its silences, tensions, and potential. This paper explores the foundational role of the Joannes Gennadius Collection as both substance and symbol of the institution that bears his name.
• Biography: Irini Solomonidi joined the staff of Gennadius Library in August 2005 where she is the Senior Librarian. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from the University of Paris IV-Sorbonne and is currently a doctoral candidate at the Faculty of Philology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (UoA). Her academic interests lie in the book history and Medieval French and Byzantine literature. While working at many prestigious academic libraries in Paris (the École Normale Supérieure, the Library of the University of Paris X-Nanterre, the Library of Byzantine Studies at the Collège de France, and the Medical Research Library of the University of Paris VII), Solomonidi earned a library degree from the University of Paris V – René Descartes. She has also attended specialized seminars at the Virginia Rare Book School, the London Rare Book School, the Centre du Conservation du Livre in Arles, the Institut d’histoire du livre in Lyon and Oxford University (CERL workshop and seminars). She has curated exhibitions and presented and published conference papers focusing on the history of the book, drawing on the collections of the Gennadius Library.

Julianne Simpson

• Abstract: Chetham's Library is the oldest surviving public library in Britain. It was founded in 1653, under the will of Humphrey Chetham, a prosperous Manchester textile merchant, banker, and landowner. His legacy also established a school for forty poor boys (now a specialist music school), and provided for five chained libraries to be placed in local churches. The library is immersed in history and association. The books are kept in presses dating back to its foundation, and there is detailed evidence for the acquisition, arrangement, cataloguing and use of the collections over four centuries. Yet Chetham’s is not (merely) a museum of the book. It is a living library, whose holdings continue to grow, thanks largely to generous donations, and the collections are continually being explored and reinterpreted by new generations of library staff, scholars and visitors.
• Biography: Julianne Simpson has been Librarian of Chetham’s Library since May 2024. She was previously Collections and Discovery Manager at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library with curatorial responsibility for the foreign language and literature, incunabula and East Asian Printed Collections. She is now an Honorary Fellow of the John Rylands Research Institute. Her research interests cover the international book trade in the 16th century, early modern libraries and the study of provenance and annotation in early printed books.

Karen Attar

• Abstract: Senate House Library, University of London, has two founding collections (1871): the chiefly mathematical library of the mathematician and mathematical historian Augustus De Morgan, and the primarily classical library of George Grote, historian of ancient Greece. The earliest cluster of books to enter the University, a much smaller German theological collection, was given in 1838, and the first point of this paper is to explain why the De Morgan and Grote collections, and not the Vye books, constitute the founding collection. The paper will continue to describe the two collections briefly, and how and why they came. From there it will trace the Library’s custody of the two sets of books to make them relevant for twenty-first-century research interests. The De Morgan Library is held together as a named special collection which has received a fair amount of attention, albeit in ways and for reasons outside the niche area of their subject matter. Grote’s books are less prominent, and a major point of the paper is to explore and analyse the difference in treatment between the two.
• Biography: Dr Karen Attar is the Curator of Rare Books and University Art at Senate House Library, University of London (formerly known as the University of London Library). Best known as the editor of the third edition of the Directory of Rare Book and Special Collections in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (2016), she has published widely on library collections.

Katharina Kaska

• Abstract: Since the publication of a major work on the history of the Austrian National Library in 1968, the idea of its medieval Habsburg origins has become embedded in its institutional memory, culminating in the celebration of the library’s 650th anniversary in 2018. What has been largely absent from discussions until recently is a deeper inquiry into the true nature of the Habsburg library/libraries—or more accurately, Habsburg book collection—and its connection to the Viennese Court Library, known today as the Austrian National Library. Meticulous research into book provenances has now uncovered the actual founding collection of the Court Library. This sheds light on the initial stages of its formation in 1558 with particular emphasis on the role of imperial advisor and passionate bibliophile Kaspar von Nidbruck (d. 1557) and his private collection. Yet, neither of these collections is prominently visible to visitors in the library’s Baroque State Hall. Instead, the spotlight falls on another private collection acquired by the Court Library in 1737: the library of Prince Eugene of Savoy (1663-1736). This talk explores how these distinct collections are interpreted and showcased by the Austrian National Library.
• Biography: Katharina Kaska is the head of the department of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the Austrian National Library. Her primary research interests are medieval palaeography, interdisciplinary manuscript research and library history.

Melanie Strong

• Abstract: This year Guildhall Library is celebrating 600 years since the founding of the original library in 1425. Built by the City of London with money from the wills of Richard Whittington and William Bury it was listed as a common or public library. In 1549 the City gave permission to Robert Cecil; to borrow works of St Augustine and any others he wanted on condition they were returned. However, they were not forcing the original library to close. Today Guildhall Library has only one book that belonged to the original library and another book returned to the City in 1516. This paper will look at the way the story of the original library and the theft of the collection has been used throughout the history of Guildhall Library and the way we engage with it today, connecting the past with the present to help our users and our Corporation understand the work we do.
• Biography: Melanie Strong has been working at Guildhall Library since 2017. Guildhall Library is a public library open to everyone, and Melanie is particularly passionate about bringing the collections to people who would not otherwise be able to access rare books and historical sources. Since obtaining their new post of Senior Librarian (Collections Advice) in 2023 they have been focused on building user engagement with the collections and building audiences both in person and online. Before working at Guildhall Library, Melanie worked for 6 years at Tower Hamlets Local History Library and Archives, managing their library collections. Their professional work has focused on the history of London and how to connect people with their past. Melanie has an MA in Asian/African History from SOAS, an MSc in Library and Information studies from City University.

Renaud Milazzo

• Abstract: Founded in 1579 to train English priests in exile, the Venerable English College in Rome developed a library and archival collection that reflect both the intellectual ambitions and the political circumstances of post-Reformation Catholicism. Far from being a mere seminary library, its holdings grew through donations from English and continental patrons, forming a corpus that bridges theology, philosophy, history, and literature. This paper explores the evolution of the College’s library and archives as instruments of religious formation, scholarly exchange, and institutional memory. Drawing on recent cataloguing and digitisation initiatives, it reconsiders the role of this collection within the broader landscape of early modern Catholic print culture and transnational networks of learning. It also reflects on current efforts to transform the library into a modern research centre, balancing preservation, accessibility, and engagement with scholars and seminarians alike. By tracing the changing identity of the English College library—from a missionary and pedagogical tool to a centre for interdisciplinary research—this presentation seeks to highlight how ecclesiastical collections can serve as both repositories of confessional heritage and active participants in contemporary scholarship.
• Biography:

Roman Koot

• Abstract: The Rotterdamsch Leeskabinet is a public humanities library, established in 1859 and nowadays located within the library of Erasmus University Rotterdam. The German bombing of May 14, 1940, destroyed the building and the entire collection of 133,000 volumes, including many old printed books. The library could make a new start, in the mansion and with the library of Elie van Rijckevorsel. This library with a size of 3,000 titles was formed in the nineteenth century by three generations: the entrepreneurs Abram and Huibert and the scientist Elie van Rijckevorsel. The Van Rijckevorsel collection is a unique example of a preserved library of a Rotterdam patrician family from that era, reflecting the professional practice, interests and social position of the family members. Notable among the old editions, literature and scientific works, is the large number of books on geography. Most of them are related to former Dutch overseas colonies and trading areas, which makes them highly relevant in regard to the present discussion on the Dutch colonial past. In recent years, by reconstructing the Van Rijckevorsel library, we ‘discovered’ the uniqueness of this collection, with its specific focus, and we present it as a core collection for academic research and for general interest.
• Biography: Roman Koot was until his retirement in October 2025 librarian of the Rotterdamsch Leeskabinet and curator of the special and heritage collections of Erasmus University Library. He worked as art historian and librarian at the Centraal Museum Utrecht, Utrecht University and the RKD-Netherlands Institute for Art History. He published about twentieth-century art and literature, and recently on the book history of the city of Rotterdam. He continues his research on the Van Rijckevorsel collection.

Tim Pye

• Abstract: Although some of the National Trust’s heritage libraries have histories stretching back to the medieval period, the organisation itself has only been active since 1895. Over the course of its existence, it has grown to become a major holder of over one million cultural objects, with its holdings of paintings and furniture usually considered to be the jewels in its crown. The 400,000 books in its care were, for a long time, considered to be a considerable burden and prized primarily for their decorative quality. With the instalment of its first permanent librarian in 1999, the Trust finally became something approaching a serious library organisation. However, recent research has revealed that the founders of the National Trust, in its earliest days, saw the organisation’s remit and purpose as something akin to the public library movement, spearheaded by Carnegie funding, which was in full flow at the turn of the 20th century. The Trust’s earliest property acquisitions were informed by this movement and the first objects that entered the Trust’s care in 1909 were books, in part funded by Andrew Carnegie, and intended to be available for use by the local community.
• Biography: Tim Pye is National Curator for Libraries at the National Trust. He is the strategic lead for the charity’s library collections, with oversight of the 200+ historic book collections in the Trust’s care, and co-author of the 2023 publication, 100 Books From the Libraries of the National Trust. He has previously worked at the British Library, Cambridge University Library and Lambeth Palace Library.