Senate House Library (University of London), reply of 19 October 2026 to an enquiry and Freedom of Information request concerning the 1992 PhD thesis of Walter Homolka (redacted)

Email correspondence between Yiftach Fehige (University of Toronto) and Senate House Library, University of London (LibAnswers ticket #9866723). On 9 October 2026, Fehige asked Senate House Library about its copy of Walter Homolka’s PhD thesis, From essence to existence: Leo Baeck and religious identity as a problem of continuity and change in Liberal Jewish and Protestant theology (University of London, King’s College, 1992). The request was made partly under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. It followed the author’s published statement that “some small changes to the dissertation had already been made” (Theology and Science, 2026, doi:10.1080/14746700.2026.2684047). The enquiry asked whether the library’s copy was the unaltered 1992 deposit; whether any replacement copy, corrigendum or erratum had been received since 1 January 2022; whether any instruction to amend, annotate, restrict or withdraw the copy had been received; and how any amended text could be consulted. In its reply of 19 October 2026, Senate House Library stated that it no longer holds a hard copy of the thesis. It said that PhD theses awarded by member institutions of the University of London federation, rather than by the University directly, have been weeded from its collection, and referred the enquirer to King’s College London. It also stated that an online version of the thesis is available through its ProQuest subscription, on site only and to library members. The reply does not address the questions on replacement copies, corrigenda or instructions to amend. The document contains the library’s reply and the original enquiry. The names and direct email address of library staff have been redacted.