Decoding Images in Early Modern Print
November 8, 2024
This is guest blog by Tom Nixon-Roworth, who recently undertook a three-month WRoCAH-funded Research and Employability Project (REP) on the Parish Library Collections, in which he reflects on his experience working at Manuscripts and Special Collections. It may come as no surprise to learn that as soon as the project was confirmed I was eagerly …
Exploring the Archives: A summer placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections
October 31, 2024
This is a guest post by Arwen Jenkins, a University of Nottingham student, who recently completed a Summer Research Placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections. How does working in archives and with manuscripts go when you’ve had no prior experience? For so many humanities students, analysing and exploring primary sources are essential parts of our …
Dear sisters: Have you seen this feminist zine?
October 28, 2024
Is it a collage? Is it poetry? Is it a meditation in pink rice bran-based ink? The zine Dear sisters is all of the above. Each page prints a response by a woman living in Notts to second wave feminism. In the 1970s-1990s hundreds of feminist magazines and newspapers circulated in the UK. They rallied …
Extra mirrors and sewing rooms: “the civilising effect of female company upon the male population” in mixed halls of residence
September 5, 2024
Student placement Alice Lilley writes about her work on the Derby Hall archive at Manuscripts and Special Collections and what struck her about how student life has changed since the 1960s. As a volunteer through the Arts Work Placement module, I worked on the Derby Hall Collection for Manuscripts and Special Collections. This was an …
Photographing artefacts for the dear sisters exhibition
August 27, 2024
This blog post, written by Digitisation Assistant Catherine Martin, highlights the digitisation team’s role in preparing for a new exhibition. Before an exhibition is installed in the Weston Gallery, the digitisation team at Manuscripts and Special Collections photograph every item which has been selected for display, to create images which can be used in publicity, …
How to do a Scoping Survey at Manuscripts and Special Collections
August 16, 2024
This is a guest post by Hannah Kane, a University of Nottingham student, who recently completed a Summer Research Placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections. What is a Scoping Survey? A scoping survey involves identifying and checking material to establish its relevance to your research topic. In my case, another undergraduate student and I completed …
Feminist Footnotes
August 9, 2024
This is a guest post by Chiara Rebora, a University of Nottingham student, who recently completed a Summer Research Placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections. Expectations of my role? When I began this placement, I felt under-qualified and completely out of my comfort zone. I had to remind myself I was selected for this placement …
Gardens, Graveyards and Gladiators: A Victorian Journey through Italy
July 31, 2024
The sun’s out, school’s out – it’s holiday season once again! This summer, join 19th century tourists from the East Midlands as they travel through Europe and beyond in our series of blogs in the run up to Heritage Open Day, which this year will explore the theme ‘Routes – Networks – Connections’! In this …
Art and activism: Rosemary Wels
July 22, 2024
Visitors to the exhibition dear sisters: activists archives at Lakeside Arts can’t fail to have noticed the striking designs of the posters produced by the Nottingham Women’s Liberation Group. We speak to the woman behind these posters, flyers and magazine covers to find out more about her art and her activism and ask how she …
The day Mahatma Gandhi came to Beeston
July 15, 2024
On 17 October 1931 crowds gathered at the small railway station in Beeston, Nottinghamshire. It was a chilly afternoon, but that did not dampen the excited anticipation of the spectators. When they eventually saw him disembarking from the train, the watchers fell silent, curious. Clad in loincloth and sandals, with a shawl to protect him …
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