SOAS Special Collections

10/08/2026

A in Persian poetry ms 46453 is a snake skin! It came to London in the 1920s via St Petersburg. We think it may have been used to ward off pests and rodents from eating the manuscript.

07/08/2026

The Chōsen shisetsu gyōretsu zukan handscroll painting shows a procession of Korean Ambassadors on a visit to Japan in 1655. It is over 12 metres long! https://ow.ly/5hUx50ZwzIY

05/08/2026

One of the more unusual items in our collections is a lock of hair belonging to James Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission!

03/08/2026

Example of mail art by Hassan Musa. These small-scale works are sent through the regular mail as “free art” to surprise friends and all persons who glimpse at them along the way and afterwards ://archives.soas.ac.uk/records/MS_381333

31/07/2026

A view of Mount Fuji from under Mannen Bridge by Hokusai Katsushika, c. 1830 https://ow.ly/4pML50ZriBc

29/07/2026

Chinese post office at Nanning photographed early C20th by Reginald Follett Codrington Hedgeland, officer in the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. https://ow.ly/Ux9A50ZriiP

27/07/2026

Nyatapol temple is one of the few traditional buildings in Bhaktapur that survived the 2015 earthquake intact. Photo by cIRcle, Uni of British Columbia Library, 2018 as part of a project to document the aftermath of the earthquake.

24/07/2026

Photograph of the Augustus Bridge and Dresden cathedral, Dresden, Germany taken by tea merchant, John C Oswald in 1887. https://ow.ly/2pza50ZrhY8

22/07/2026

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, Hong Kong. Photograph taken by Herny Rue c. 1910-1913 ://digital.soas.ac.uk/Documents/Detail/r.c.-cathedral-hong-kong/204650

15/07/2026

Plans for the new Philips building on the main campus of SOAS, to house the library, offices, teaching rooms, sports facilities, and other dedicated spaces. Read more here about a recent project to catalogue these: https://ow.ly/buuK50ZlTRB

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the iconic Philips Building, designed by Denys Lasdun & Partners.