Jane Gallagher

Exhibitions were core to Enriqueta Rylands’s vision for the Rylands. Join this seminar introducing the early history of exhibitions at the library – especially exhibitions of English Bibles. Tuesday 3 June, 5.30pm. Online.

📚✨ One of Manchester’s most breathtaking buildings just got even better. From 15 May 2025, @TheJohnRylands unveils two major exhibitions that celebrate 125 years of cultural legacy in the heart of the city. 🔍 Explore the brand-new Collections Gallery — featuring rare treasures like a 14th-century trilingual Qur’an, Shakespeare’s first folio, Alan Turing’s notes, and Joy Division archives. 🎶 Step into The Secret Public: LGBTQ Pop 1955–1985, a bold, immersive journey through 30 years of LGBTQ creativity and resistance in pop culture — co-curated by Jon Savage. 📍 Free entry, Wednesday–Saturday, 10am–5pm Find out more 📲 confidentials.com/manchester/the… #JohnRylandsLibrary #Rylands125 #ManchesterCulture #LGBTQHistory #PopCulture #HiddenGems #WhatToDoInManchester

Visit the new galleries from Thursday 15 May. To celebrate we're opening a littler later, until 6.30pm. We can't wait to see you!

How do you display a folded book? Made from folded bark with two wooden covers, broken bark was reattached, and tears reinforced. Conservators made a custom cradle to support the concertina structure. See the Batak manuscript in the Collections Gallery from Thursday 15 May.

Born #OTD 1904 Bill Brandt is considered one of the most important British photographers of the 20th C. We recently acquired the 85 Lilliput magazine issues that contain 400+ Brandt photographs, representing a diverse & iconic selection of his work. ow.ly/XKHX50VCf00

Ahead of new galleries opening , our conservators gave collections some TLC. This copy of Isaac Newton’s ‘Principia ’ received special treatment to the spine and reattachment of the board. Visit the new Collections Gallery from Thursday 15 May to see this book and many others.

Take a look at this fantastic blog post on Deaf education by placement student Ellis Wright, who is studying for an MA in Art Gallery and Museum Studies. Ellis' blog is inspired by her work with our University Heritage Collections. medium.com/special-collec…

In our latest blog post, Angela Petyt-Whittaker talks about her experience in cataloguing the fascinating (and the world’s largest!) collection of circuit plans up to 1933, held at the Methodist Archives and Research Centre (MARC) at the John Rylands: ow.ly/lokP50VyMtb.

With the new Selene system from @ factum_foundation up and running one of the first items the Rylands Heritage Imaging Lab team have digitised is a unique world map printed from a cast of a circular metal map which is preserved in Cardinal Stephan Borgia's Museum at Velletri.

In the second of our Votes for Women blog series, we reveal two visually creative pieces of suffrage memorabilia recently added to our collection. Including this illuminated certificate signed by Emmeline Pankhurst pictured below. Read more here: ow.ly/eytW50VtISn

Have you seen our new digital exhibition, UMIST's Modernist Moment? It contains striking pictures of an innovative style of campus architecture for Manchester, forged in the white heat of 1960s technology. Take a look here: digitalexhibitions.manchester.ac.uk/s/umist/page/i… #ThrowbackThursday

We are happy to share the news that Maya Sharma has been appointed as our new Head of RACE Centre and Education Trust. @UoMLibrary @TheJohnRylands @MancLibraries @HeritageFundUK

Event to mark International Women's Day at Marsden Library. Please do circulate - all welcome

Supporting the Kath Locke heritage project, celebrating activism in Hulme & Moss Side and honouring Kath Locke’s legacy in Black history education. Join the evening workshops to share memories—everyone welcome! See flyer for details.

Please do share this post widely and on other platforms too. John Ryland's library is looking for a talented and dynamic Head of Collections. Closing date 14 Feb so don't delay

This week in Imaging we begin our collaborative project with collection care on the Pierre Desceliers’ 1546 Mappemonde. Here you can see a snippet of the journey the Mappemonde had to take to get to the studio and its resting place for the next few days.

It's our 125th birthday! The Rylands opened its doors on 1 January 1900. Ahead of the official opening, thousands of people had already visited. Enriqueta Rylands invitated friends to view the library. See our website for Rylands125 updates: ow.ly/iinb50UN2eN

I saw a motivational quote this morning that said, “What are you waiting for? Make the change TODAY!” No thank you, I shall wait until January like a normal person and then make the change (probably around the 3rd of Jan) and I shall keep the change going for approximately two weeks before gently slipping back to how I was before ☺️

Delighted to be hosting this event next year. 📰We're proudly home to the Guardian Archive covering the paper's foundation (as the Manchester Guardian) in 1821 until the 1970s.

'The Value of History in UK Higher Education and Society' - a new briefing from @RoyalHistSoc bit.ly/4fl6lQD Published today, the Society's briefing assesses the value of #history and the damage being done by cuts and closures to UK departments #twitterstorians