Our History
Meet the President of Friends - Michael Chaplin
As we all know, libraries are treasure houses: not just of books, large, small and often comely, but also of fascinating facts, inspiring ideas, cracking stories and beautiful thoughts.
The Philip Robinson Library is one such place – but with knobs on. The kind of library that illuminates the minds of countless young people but also finds the will and resources to preserve and curate a growing body of historical archives that speaks eloquently of our cultural past. This, in short, is an institution that deserves the very best of friends.
As you will see, being a Friend of the University Library confers all kinds of rich benefits, at a very moderate cost: the equivalent of a half-decent bottle of wine or the dubious pleasure of watching Newcastle United for approximately 30 minutes.
As the man said, what’s not to like?
Our history
The Friends of the University Library was established in 1955 when Newcastle University was still part of Durham University.
The first President of what was then ‘The Friends of King’s College Library,’ was the Duke of Northumberland (Hugh Percy, 1914-1988), and our archive contains a copy of the inaugural letter signed by the Duke, canvassing for members.
As the letter makes clear, the initial purpose of the Friends was to secure funding to help the Library enrich its collections of rare books, historical documents and manuscripts, as "the income of the Library leaves little margin for the acquisition of such works".
Bloodaxe Books Collection Original typescripts, editorial work, correspondence and examples of marketing, business and financial records dating from the 1970’s to the present day.
Crawhall Album Amicorum Contains newspaper clippings relating to Joseph Crawhall II and his work, poems, letters, photographs of himself and his family and various art work.
Cuala Press Books Four broadsides published by Cuala Press, a publishing house based in Dublin and owned by Elizabeth Yeats, sister of W.B.Yeats.
David Gardner-Medwin History of Medicine Books Published books on the history of medicine donated by David Gardner-Medwin
Flambard Archive Original typescripts, editorial work, correspondence and examples of marketing, business and financial records from Iron Press, a publishing house based in the North East of England.
Iron Press Archive Original typescripts, editorial work, correspondence and examples of marketing, business and financial records from Iron Press, a publishing house based in the North East of England.
Kipling Letters Original typescripts, editorial work, correspondence and examples of marketing, business and financial records from Iron Press, a publishing house based in the North East of England.
Pollard Collection Collection of published books, predominantly by Rudyard Kipling, collected by Eric Pollard.
Views of Newcastle upon Tyne An album of prints consisting of fifteen views in and near Newcastle. The album was presented to Marjorie Robinson by Brian Enright and Colleagues, on the occasion of her birthday.