Handwriting Exhibition at King’s College London

Hosted by the King’s College London Archives and Special Collections, the Maughan Library is pleased to present a special in-person exhibition of handwritten diaries.

For the past 40 years artist Dylan Jonas Stone has amasses a unique collection of over 200 personal diaries acquired at flea markets, car boot sales and online. The diaries range in date from the first decade of the 19th century to the present day and document the lives of ordinary people, their joys and sorrows, the humdrum occurrences of daily existence and those occasions when global events intervened to change those lives for better or worse.

This exhibition has previously been shown at venues in New York, Orkney and Norfolk, and each time Stone has worked with the hosting institution to adapt the content to its setting. King’s has complemented the Dylan Jonas Stone Collection with selected items, including diaries, from Special Collections and Archives.

In 1808 a mother mourns the death of her seven-year-old daughter; in 1917 an officer on the Western Front records a day spent under fire; in 1944 an ARP warden notes V2 attacks in south London; in 1975 an aspiring rock musician hitch-hikes his way around Europe. Some diarists use their diaries to record past events, others to note future appointments, to reflect, to doodle, as a repository for favourite recipes or as a container for physical possessions, such as scraps of cloth, letters or printed ephemera.

The exhibition is free to visit upon presentation of a PDF ticket, which can be found here.

The Weston Room, Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR to Sunday 13 October 2024. Open: 10.00-17.00 daily (also see closure dates below).

Exhibition closure dates:
Tuesday 17 September, 11.00-14.30
Saturday 21 September – all day
Thursday 26 September, 14.00-17.00
Tuesday 8 October, 14.30-17.00
Wednesday 9 October, until 11.30
Thursday 10 October – until 13.00

Handwriting Exhibition at King’s College London

Hosted by the King’s College London Archives and Special Collections, the Maughan Library is pleased to present a special in-person exhibition of handwritten diaries.

For the past 40 years artist Dylan Jonas Stone has amasses a unique collection of over 200 personal diaries acquired at flea markets, car boot sales and online. The diaries range in date from the first decade of the 19th century to the present day and document the lives of ordinary people, their joys and sorrows, the humdrum occurrences of daily existence and those occasions when global events intervened to change those lives for better or worse.

This exhibition has previously been shown at venues in New York, Orkney and Norfolk, and each time Stone has worked with the hosting institution to adapt the content to its setting. King’s has complemented the Dylan Jonas Stone Collection with selected items, including diaries, from Special Collections and Archives.

In 1808 a mother mourns the death of her seven-year-old daughter; in 1917 an officer on the Western Front records a day spent under fire; in 1944 an ARP warden notes V2 attacks in south London; in 1975 an aspiring rock musician hitch-hikes his way around Europe. Some diarists use their diaries to record past events, others to note future appointments, to reflect, to doodle, as a repository for favourite recipes or as a container for physical possessions, such as scraps of cloth, letters or printed ephemera.

The exhibition is free to visit upon presentation of a PDF ticket, which can be found here.

The Weston Room, Maughan Library, Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1LR to Sunday 13 October 2024. Open: 10.00-17.00 daily (also see closure dates below).

Exhibition closure dates:
Tuesday 17 September, 11.00-14.30
Saturday 21 September – all day
Thursday 26 September, 14.00-17.00
Tuesday 8 October, 14.30-17.00
Wednesday 9 October, until 11.30
Thursday 10 October – until 13.00