CSIA’s autumn-term College Tour I, led by Alex, invited participants to explore the Grange Road area and consider how Cambridge has continued to grow far beyond its medieval centre. Beginning at Cambridge University Library, the walk introduced participants to the modern university as a living institution shaped by knowledge, architecture, gender, philanthropy and social change.

The University Library provided a powerful starting point. Alex explained its status as one of the United Kingdom’s legal deposit libraries, entitled to receive copies of books published in the country. From a collection of hundreds of volumes in the sixteenth century to millions today, the library embodies the expansion of knowledge across centuries. Its building, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, also prompted discussion of early modernist and Art Deco architectural language. A nearby memorial further revealed that the site once served as the First Eastern General Hospital during the First World War, adding…