The staff at Kings College were super friendly and seemed to be excited to have us and to show us around. They split us into groups of two and we had the opportunity to tour the library, and see select books that they had set out for us to work through. One of the most exciting parts: they let us touch these materials. So there I stood, gingerly moving through the collections they had set out for up, when I took a close look at a medical book. The picture in front of me caught my eye and I couldn't help but stare:
This medical journal was documenting the treatment progress of this terminally ill patient. Notice how the patient looks no better in the after treatment picture on the right... the only real difference? They combed his hair, to make him look a little nicer than the original. So interesting! I truly feel like I still see this on infomercials today.
The library used to be a public records office and there are still some of the heavy original doors in place. These doors were meant to help prevent the spread of a fire, if one broke out. The collections hold over 200,000 materials dating as far back as the 15th century to today. The special collections library was once known to be the center of printing in London but now it holds the more precious materials the school has collected over the years.
To learn more about the library and collections, click here: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/library/archivespec