On 30 March 2015, a group of 40 American and Canadian Studies and History undergraduates took a trip with some of their lecturers to the Magna Carta exhibition at the British Library.
As part of the exhibition the library has a copy of Thomas Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration of Independence (as a document part-inspired by Magna Carta) and it was exciting for all concerned to see such documents in the flesh – students also saw the Lindisfarne Gospels, a full quarto Shakespeare and a Gutenberg bible as part of a library treasures tour. The literary and intellectual underpinnings of western civilisation – not a bad way to spend an afternoon! This short film shows some of the student reactions to this amazing exhibition.