Ectoplasm, spirit trumpets and paintings from Pompeii: 600 years of Curious Objects

Why does one of the world's great research libraries have 'ectoplasm', a spirit trumpet and beard hair posted to Charles Darwin among its eight million books, manuscripts and digital collections? We've opened cupboards and found wall paintings from Pompeii. Jill Whitelock The answers lie in the second major exhibition of Cambridge University Library's 600th anniversary - Curious Objects - which puts on display a collection of curiosities that has been centuries in the making. Opening to the public on November 3, and following on from the hugely successful Lines of Thought, the exhibits on display in Curious Objects cover all corners of the globe and every era of human history, from the Stone Age to the Space Age. Research for the exhibition has turned up new and rediscovered finds - including the oldest objects in the Library, two black-topped redware pots from Predynastic Egypt, and the oldest written artefact, a Sumerian clay tablet from around 2200 BCE. As one of only six Legal Deposit libraries in the UK and Ireland, Cambridge University Library has been entitled to a copy of every UK publication since 1710. But it also predates the era of most modern museums and collections, meaning that over the centuries, it has been a depository for all manner of objects, all of which have a part to play in telling the story of one of the world's greatest libraries.