Manuscripts & Special Collections Achieves National Accreditation
January 9, 2017
The New Year is off to a good start for Manuscripts and Special Collections, which is delighted to have been awarded Archive Service Accreditation by The National Archives. Mark Dorrington, Keeper of Manuscripts & Special Collections, explains what this means. Accreditation is the UK quality standard which recognises good performance in all areas of archive …
Beyond the Reading Room: 5 Minutes With Debbie Crookes
August 3, 2016
It’s 10 years this month that Manuscripts & Special Collections moved to King’s Meadow Campus! Many people have visited the Reading Room over the years, but this is only a small part of the department. As part of the celebrations, we’re giving you a look at what goes on Beyond the Reading Room, starting with… …
Colin Wilson Conference
July 18, 2016
On Friday 1 July, 60 researchers, fans and family members of the late Colin Wilson travelled to KMC to attend the 1st International Colin Wilson Conference. It was a truly an international affair, as delegates had come from as far afield as America, Australia and even West Bridgford. The extensive archive of the Leicester-born novelist …
Grand Tourists and Others: exhibition opens
April 29, 2016
Intrepid explorer, Levison Wood, author of Walking the Himalayas and University of Nottingham History graduate (2004), journeyed to Nottingham Lakeside Arts to open Manuscripts and Special Collections’ latest exhibition Grand Tourists and Others: Travelling Abroad Before the 20th Century. The exhibition, curated by Levison’s former tutor Dr Ross Balzaretti (School of Humanities), takes the visitor on a …
A back-of-the-envelope history of Christmas cards
December 11, 2015
If you were asked to guess what the very first Christmas card depicted, what would your answer be? Most people (according to an unofficial poll of my colleagues) thought either a Nativity scene or possibly one of a snowy landscape. Sensible ideas, but both wrong. The first Christmas card was commissioned in 1843 by Sir …
Happy Easter from Manuscripts and Special Collections
March 30, 2015
As this weekend is Easter, it seems appropriate to share some Easter-related images from one of our treasures: the 15th century Wollaton Antiphonal belonging to St Leonard’s parish church. An Antiphonal is a book of liturgical music. It contains the words and music to the sung portions of the Divine Office, and had to be large enough to …
Christmas Closure
December 19, 2014
Manuscripts and Special Collections will be open up to and including Christmas Eve, Wednesday 24th December. We are closed from Thursday 25th December 2014, and will re-open at 9am on Monday 5th January 2015. During this period the Reading Room will not be open for visitors and we will be unable to answer enquiries. To find opening times …
Embracing serendipity at the annual archives conference
September 24, 2014
‘Survival of the fittest’ was the theme for this year’s Archives and Record Association conference. Archivists, records managers and conservators from all across the UK and beyond gathered in Newcastle to share positive stories and advice, in an era which has seen damaging cuts to services (particularly in local record offices). There was no room …
Mark Dorrington arrives as new Keeper
November 22, 2013
I am very pleased to have started work this week as the new Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections in succession to Dorothy Johnston. I have 30 years’ experience in local authority and ecclesiastical archives and libraries. My most recent post was as Team Manager for Archives and Local Studies with Nottinghamshire County Council, running …
Family inheritance on display
November 21, 2013
We were delighted to welcome Sir Andrew Buchanan, 5th Baronet, and his son George Buchanan to Manuscripts and Special Collections last week, on Mark Dorrington’s first day as the new Keeper of the Manuscripts at The University of Nottingham. Over the years the Buchanan family have deposited several significant collections of papers created by ancestors …
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