voyages of an eton librarian
the University of Bristol, geological specimens from the Natural History Museum, and works of art by Emma Stibbons RA. Exhibitions are a major strand in how we interpret our collections, set them in a wider context, and make them accessible to audiences beyond the school. We now aim to hold up to four exhibitions a year, of which two are usually curated by library and archives sta V (the college’s senior collections, as stipulated in its earliest statutes). Previous exhibitions have explored a variety of themes and special collections within the library, ranging from bindings, book illus- tration and assorted Etonian authors to the King James Bible, the theatre designer Edward Gordon Craig, and the Topham Collection of antiquarian drawings as a source for British neo-classicism. Depending on the subject of each exhibition, we engage with a range of audiences from scholars and bibliophiles to the more gen- eral public, always remembering that our core audience comprises young people of secondary school age. We also have an active pro- gramme of outreach and engagement with the local community, and I wanted to ensure that the exhibition would be accessible to visitors of all ages. My point of departure for this was the recognition that in our hyperconnected, globalised world, travel is a nearly universal expe- rience that a V ects all of us through our lives, our families, the people we meet and the food we eat. I began to choose exhibits that would be thought-provoking no matter the level of expertise: something for everyone to engage with. They included items ranging from a sumptuously illustrated private press edition of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner to the Old Etonian Maurice Baring’s travelling li- brary, a selection of historic passports, and a 16th-century portolan chart. One of most rewarding comments I received was from a parent who was delighted that the exhibition had held the attention of her primary school-aged children for over an hour; another was from the elderly and longstanding researcher in the College Library and Archives who had suggested William Wey as possibly the earli- est Etonian pilgrim, whose response was, “It was fun !” The Tower Gallery’s use of wooden exhibition cases and panel- ling, with wooden ceiling beams and large bay windows reminis- cent of the stern windows of a ship, brought to mind the memory of
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