EM Forster's Legacy of Connection: Unseen Memorabilia

EM Forster's Legacy of Connection: Unseen Memorabilia is on at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre from 1 October to 31 October 2026. It's a month-long exhibition that brings together personal archives and original paintings, all centred on the novelist's relationship with the working-class Buckingham family.

The whole thing takes its title from Forster's famous maxim 'only connect'. Forster lived in Brunswick Square and was part of the Bloomsbury set, but he spent his life arguing for gay rights and speaking out against restrictions based on race and class. One of those connections was his long friendship with Bob Buckingham, a working-class policeman. That link stretched to Bob's nephew, Jim, who followed his passion for painting and, now in his 80s, has brought together a collection of never-before-seen Forster memorabilia — letters, photographs and books — to show alongside his own work.

Among Jim's paintings are portraits of Forster himself, of Bob, and of other family members, as well as a series on ancestry. There's a specific detail in there that ties back to Forster's writing: Jim's family of six lived in two rooms near King's Cross, a fact Forster mentioned in Two Cheers for Democracy. As a child, Jim used to walk to Coram's Fields in Bloomsbury just to get away from the overcrowding. Seeing that family history side by side with the memorabilia makes the connection feel less like a literary footnote and more like a real relationship.

It's a double-sided look at the area: one part is a new glimpse into Forster's personal life, and the other is a piece of Bloomsbury's working-class history. The exhibition runs from 10am to 7pm daily throughout October at the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, inside Holborn Library on Theobalds Road (WC1X 8NW), and entry is free.