Canterbury Cathedral Library

Title: Canterbury Cathedral Library

Description: Canterbury Cathedral Library contains over 38,000 books and pamphlets, of which over 30,000 were printed before 1900. These printed sources are divided into several large collections covering topics and themes such as natural history, archaeology, travel, history, law, literature and theology.

The resources that are most pertinent to the CASBAH project are the Cathedral Library's wide range of books and pamphlets on the slave trade, slavery and antislavery, primarily housed within the Howley-Harrison Collection. This collection - named after Archbishop Howley, Residentiary Canon of the Cathedral and Archdeacon of Maidstone, and his chaplain, Benjamin Harrison (1808-1887) - was acquired by the Cathedral Library in 1887 and contains over 16,000 items. The catalogue to this collection lists over 400 entries of antislavery import.

Much of the material on antislavery was originally collected by the evangelical Tory MP Sir Robert Harry Inglis (1786-1855) who, although not a central figure in the history of the antislavery movement in Britain, was actively involved in the work of the African Institution from c.1815 onwards, supported parliamentary campaigns against slavery and served on a parliamentary committee that examined the long-term suppression of the international, transatlantic slave trade. Naturally Inglis's own religious and political outlook has influenced the overall content of the Canterbury Cathedral materials in this area, in that there are less items reflecting the more militant elements of the antislavery movement in Britain during the 1820s in favour of those which cover the missionary aspect of antislavery. Nevertheless, Inglis's parliamentary focus encouraged him to collect the papers and pamphlets of some key individuals and organisations from the more radical sectors of the movement: including the writings of Quaker Elizabeth Coltman Heyrick of Leicester (1769-1831), Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846), Granville Sharp (1735-1813), James Cropper (1773-1840) and the publications of the Anti-Slavery Society (founded in 1823). In addition, evidence of Inglis's association with members of the Clapham Sect is also seen through his acquisition of pamphlets by Zachary Macaulay (1768-1838), James Stephen the elder (1758-1832) and William Wilberforce (1759-1833).

Between 1840-1843 Inglis was involved in the African Civilisation Society so there is some later material in this collection about colonisation in Sierra Leone and the work of Christian missionaries in Africa.

In addition to the above-mentioned printed sources there are some manuscripts that were acquired alongside the Howley-Harrison book collection. These items, entitled Inglis-Harrison Papers, are housed in the Library with the reference U210.

Related materials housed in the Cathedral Archive include the annual reports of the African Institution (Ref: ST58), proof sheets of an issue of the African Civilisation Society's journal, entitled 'The Friends of the African', dated 1845 (Ref: ST267), and ephemera such as the half-sheet recruiting leaflet 'West Indian Slavery' (Ref: ST105) and news cuttings reporting Thomas Macaulay's famous speech at the Anti-Slavery Society's Annual General Meeting in 1824 (Ref: ST104).

A new series of publications, entitled Canterbury Sources, provides further details about the full range of printed and manuscript sources in the Archives and Library at Canterbury. Volume 3 lists the sources on slavery and the slave trade and also contains a detailed introduction to the collection that sets the material in its wider historical, political and socio-economic context.

Strengths: Books and pamphlets on the slave trade, slavery and antislavery

Size: c.400 titles

Catalogue: Some resources are listed on the University of Kent online public access catalogue. Details of printed catalogues are also given below (See 'Notes')

Catalogue URL: http://opac.ukc.ac.uk

Main URL: http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/library.html

Access: The Library is open to any reader with a legitimate research interest in the collections on a reference only basis. The Library shares a Reading Room with the Cathedral Archives so it is best to write or telephone in advance to book a reading desk. Any reader wishing to consult archive material as well as books must have a CARN (County Archive Research Network) ticket. Any student wishing to view the collections should also bring a letter from their supervisor. Further information about access to the collections is available on the Canterbury Cathedral web site at http://www.canterbury-cathedral.org/.

Acquisition dates: 1887

Note: Printed catalogues:

• Canterbury Cathedral Library: Catalogue of the pre-1801 printed books, by D. Shaw and S. Hingley. Microfiche. Marlborough: Adam Matthew Publications, 1998.
• Slavery: A Bibliography of the Collection in Canterbury Cathedral Library , compiled by Clare Gathercole. Canterbury: Canterbury Cathedral Library and University of Kent at Canterbury, 1988.
• Canterbury Sources 3: The Slave Trade. Books and pamphlets on slavery and its abolition printed before 1900 in Canterbury Cathedral Library, compiled by Clare Gathercole. Canterbury: The Dean and Chapter, Canterbury Cathedral, 2001

Interest: Black, Caribbean

Complete: Complete

Subjects

Christianity

Slavery

Abolition of slavery

Politics

Anti-slavery movements

Anti-slavery legislation

Personal/Corporate names

Wilberforce, William, 1759-1833

Stephen, James, 1758-1832

Sharp, Granville, 1735-1813

Macaulay, Zachary,1768-1838

Cropper, James, 1773-1840

Heyrick, Elizabeth (Coltman), 1769-1831

Clarkson, Thomas, 1760-1846

Clapham Sect

Anti-Slavery Society

African Civilisation Society

African Institution

Places

Sierra Leone