Thomas Clarkson collections featured on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire

BBC Radio Cambridgeshire visited the College Library to record a short interview with Ryan Cronin, Communications Office, on the Thomas Clarkson and Abolitionist material housed in the Special Collections.

Thomas Clarkson (BA 1783) was one of St John's most significant figures in the abolition of the Slave Trade. Clarkson's lifelong dedication to abolition began simply as an academic exercise, for a University essay competition, but soon became his life's work. The Library is home to a large number of letters, diaries, essays and personal papers belonging to Clarkson, some of which were mentioned in the radio interview, including Clarkson's prize-winning essay of 1785. The Clarkson papers are regularly used in educational visits to the Library by local schools. For more information on schools' resources visit St John's Library School Visits.

The Clarkson collections are featured in a trail at the start of the programme, and again at 1hour 38 minutes. Listen to the complete BBC programme here.