IN THE GRIP OF CHANGE

Find out more about the Caribbean and Black History collections at Senate House Library.

Free access to Senate House Library's Archives and Special Collections 

All current members of Senate House Library can access Special Collections. Independent researchers using Special Collections, Archives and Manuscripts who would normally pay to use the library, can apply for a free archive ticket. (This ticket is not valid for accessing other areas or resources within the Library.) Proof of address and photo ID is required. 

To apply for a free archive ticket, please complete the pre-registration form. The Special Collections team will contact you to confirm this has been activated. Archive tickets must be arranged with at least one day’s notice. We also offer other membership options for university students and staff. Please see our membership pages for more information. 

Alternatively, you are able to access our special collections and archives through our Virtual Reading Room service.

Collection guides

• Caribbean Studies Collection guide - this guide offers an introduction to the Caribbean Studies collections at the Institute of Historical Research, the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Senate House libraries

• Guide on archives on slavery in the Caribbean - this guide provides an overview of the archive collections at Senate House Library relating to enslavement and enslaved people.

• Black History guide - the collection guide to Senate House Library's History collections includes a subject guide to Black History

• Anglophone Caribbean Literature at Senate House Library - a guide to the collection, and a project to develop it, including information on the collection strengths, featured authors, and links to relevant material. 

Archives at Senate House Library

Use the archives catalogue to explore our archive collections. The list highlights some of the Library's archives. It is not intended to be comprehensive.

• Akers Family Business papers

• Castle Wemyss Estate papers

• C.L.R. James papers

• Billy Strachan papers

• Newton family papers

• Richard Hart papers (microfilm)

• Sandbach, Tinne and Co. papers (archival references: MS677, ICS70, MS1218)

• Taylor family papers

• West India Committee papers (microfilm)

• William Hewitt papers

Rare printed collections at Senate House Library

• Institute of Commonwealth Studies Political Pamphlets - compiled by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies from current and former members of the Commonwealth, include materials from several Caribbean and African countries. They largely date from the 1960s and 1970s and give insight into processes of decolonisation and transitions to independence. The pamphlets can be explored by using the search interface for the Political Pamphlet collections.

• Goldsmiths' Library of Economic Literature - includes considerable amount of primary sources from the 18th and 19th century on the slave trade and abolition movement.

• Ron Heisler collection - contains pamphlets and ephemera relating to the race discrimination, racism and anti-racism in Great Britain.

Senate House Library blogs

• The Launch Party: In the Grip of Change: The Caribbean and its British Diaspora

• A Special Relationship: The University of London and the University of the West Indies

• Locating Samuel Selvon in Senate House Library

• The view from the “Motherland”: Billy Strachan’s fight for the Windrush generation

• Una Marson: Writer, Activist & the first Black woman broadcaster at the BBC

Additional resources

• The Windrush Scandal in a Transnational and Commonwealth Context
• Black Cultural Archives
• George Padmore Institute
• Digital Collections of the University of the West Indies at Mona, Jamaica
• National Library of Jamaica Digital Collections
• West Indiana and Special Collections Division, The Alma Jordan Library, University of the West Indies St. Augustine Campus, Trinidad and Tobago
• West Indies Federal Archives Centre, The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus Barbados
• Cheddi Jagan Research Centre
• Black History Collections guide by the Institute of Historical Research 
• Caribbean History Collections guide by the Institute of Historical Research  
• Black British History guide by the National Archives 
• Digital Library of the Caribbean
• Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS), School of Advanced Study, University of London
• Institute of Commonwealth Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London
• Caribbean Studies Seminar Series, organised by the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (CLACS)
• UCL Institute of the Americas