Hidden Treasures: Exeter’s Library and Literature Heritage

Dr. Clare Maudling is a multi-disciplinary researcher and former library professional. She spent fifteen years working in specialist libraries, including the Exeter Performing Arts Library and the Westcountry Studies Library, before undertaking postgraduate study in history at the University of Exeter. Born in Exeter, Clare’s interest in history was inherited from her parents. She developed a love of architectural history, and her main research interest is the evolution of urban planning and housing in the UK. She completed her PhD in Exeter, Plymouth and Bristol in 2018, after a decade of research into post-war rebuilding. After graduating, Clare worked in heritage, working for Exeter Historic Buildings Trust and the Devon and Exeter Institution. Clare is currently a post-doctoral research fellow with the University of Exeter.

Clare says: “In 1904, Harry Tapley-Soper, the new city librarian, began lobbying Exeter City Council for a new library, as the one he had inherited was bursting at the seams and was no longer fit for a modern city.

A mere 26 years later, the new City Library finally opened, beset along the way with concerns about cost, the necessity of providing such a facility, and the demands of an American steel magnate… This episode in the city’s library provisions reflects a long history of unexpected arguments and actors. An ancient place of worship, a new art school, an 18th-century execution, some one-upmanship, and a large stuffed brown bear, all take their place in the story of our libraries and their books.

The city is home to books of international significance, and the buildings which house them have their own fascinating stories to tell, forming part of a larger narrative of literacy, literary and scientific thinking, and the expansion of what it means to be a library in the modern age.

This talk takes a trip through the city’s history via its libraries, from the early foundations of the Cathedral Library to the 170 years of public library service, telling the stories of those who created our libraries and the changes across the centuries.”

If you are a member of the Exeter Local History Society, tickets are free for you - please select a £0 ticket when registering for the event. If you are not a member of the Society, there is a small (£5) entry fee. If you would like to attend as a non-member, please select a non-member ticket when registering.

More information about the Society and its events can be found on the Society's website at www.exeterlocalhistorysociety.co.uk.