Show/hide main menu

Collections and resources

Gifts and donations

Since its foundation, the library collection of King’s College London has greatly benefited from generous gifts and donations of printed, manuscript, and other material. Such gifts and donations are immensely valuable in enabling us to support the teaching and research mission of the College and in enhancing the research value of our collections.

We therefore wish to encourage gifts of such material, provided that they fall within the scope of the Collection Development Policy.

A large proportion of gifts and donated material is on open access shelving, principally at the Maughan Library on Chancery Lane. Although integrated into the main collection, much of it can be easily identified on the library catalogue by searching for the name of the donor.

Selected gifts

 

 The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Historical Collection

The library collection of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) was transferred to King’s on permanent loan in 2007, comprising over 60,000 volumes of books, pamphlets, reports, typescripts and manuscripts. Of these, around 50,000 are of historical significance and are housed in the Foyle’s Special Collections library.

The remaining 10,000 items are largely monographs published since World War Two and are currently being added to the main Maughan collection as open access material. The postwar era was a period of great global change, particularly regarding international relations, the gradual decline of the colonial paradigm and the rise of national independence and autonomy movements around the developing world.  The postwar FCO collection reflects this immense shift, covering topics such as the Cold War in Europe and the USA, the foundation of the state of Israel, and the rise of the Asian economies.   As Empire became Commonwealth, the FCO continued to acquire relevant material up to the beginning of the 21st century, and which is now being made available to King’s students and researchers.  Approximately 2000 items have been catalogued already, including monographs on colonial and postcolonial Africa, contemporary China and the former Eastern Bloc countries.

The Gunton Collection

Professor Colin Gunton was a leading British theologian and Professor of Christian Doctrine at King’s from 1984. After his death, around 2000 of his books were donated to King’s and housed at the Maughan Library. The collection reflects Professor Gunton’s research interests in the doctrines of creation and the trinity, as well as his active involvement in the United Reformed Church. Added to the catalogue in 2010-11, it provides an additional resource for students of theology, Biblical studies and Church history.

The Lynn Collection

Professor Martin Lynn was a British and Nigerian historian teaching at Queen's University in Belfast. The Lynn collection was catalogued in 2011 and comprises 800 monographs, largely concerning colonial and postcolonial African history, and British imperial history in general. Combined with the FCO collection’s holdings in these areas, King’s subject coverage is now comprehensive and wide-ranging, with many additional copies of well-used texts added to open access shelves.

The Mignucci Collection

This collection of around 7,000 items was given to King's in the bequest of the late Mario Mignucci, formerly Professor of the University of Padua and Research Fellow in Philosophy at King's. Work began on cataloguing the collection, which consists of monographs and journals in philosophy, logic and classics, in November 2008 and was completed 18 months later. 

 

The Mignucci collection is particularly strong in early Greek thought, symbolic and mathematical logic, and modern European philosophy, with publications from throughout the last century largely in English, Italian, French and German. It has proved popular with library users, with many items requested by readers soon after being added to the catalogue. Its addition greatly enhances the already comprehensive holdings in these subjects at King's, with several items unique to UK institutions.

The Sion Collection

Sion College, founded in 1630, is a body of central London clergy which supports the Anglican ministry within the capital by promoting learning and fellowship among the clergy of London. Its members are able to access the part of the Sion College library collection held at King’s.

King’s took the post-1850 half of the Sion College collection in 1996, with the pre-1850 material going to Lambeth Palace Library. The material transferred to King’s is estimated at 65,000 volumes, about 35,000 items of which had been catalogued and processed by the early 2000s. Almost all the theological material has now been catalogued and added to the store in the Maughan Library . Approximately 18,000 volumes are awaiting cataloguing, and cover history, literature (English, Classical and European), travel, economics, archaeology, art and architecture.

Enquiries:

Gifts and donations

Information Resources

Library Services

King's College London

26-29 Drury Lane

London WC2B 5RL

 
Tel.: +44(0)20 7848 1190

Email: librarygifts@kcl.ac.uk

internaladd1
Sitemap Site help Terms and conditions Accessibility Recruitment News Centre Contact us

© 2013 King's College London | Strand | London WC2R 2LS | England | United Kingdom | Tel +44 (0)20 7836 5454