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 …
Page 3, pin-ups and double standards
July 10, 2024
Tina Pamplin of the Nottingham Feminist Archive Group, and Sarah Colborne, Archivist at the University of Nottingham, introduce a new addition to the East Midlands Feminist Archive: the ‘For Women Only’ calendar which was produced by Lincoln Women’s Action Group. They compare it to a similar occasion in the University’s history when printers refused to …
Dead End? Tunnels under Nottingham in fact and fiction
June 28, 2024
Considering the number of manmade caves which lie beneath the streets of Nottingham, it is unsurprising that, over the years, a tangled web of stories has developed which imagines a secret network of tunnels beneath the city. The details vary, with passages variously linking the city centre, the castle, and Wollaton Hall or running instead …
George Green Library: Then and Now
June 18, 2024
To commemorate 60 years since the opening of George Green Library, Tracey O’Sullivan, Library Advisor, shares her memories and photographs from working there since 1985. Imagine the scene: no computers, no mobile phones, no Wi-Fi, no laptops, no self-service machines, just lots of books, journals and the like; card index cabinets and photocopier machines that …
The phoenix in early modern print woodcuts
June 4, 2024
This blog post was written by our Special Collections Librarian in the course of her work on an upcoming exhibition at the Old Rectory Museum, Loughborough, where facsimiles of books from the Loughborough Parish Library collection will be displayed. The early Christian writer St Isidore of Seville described the phoenix in his Etymologies: ‘The phoenix …
Time with Lawrence – a student from Malaysia campus on her archive placement
May 16, 2024
This is a guest post by Yunyu, a student from the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus who recently completed a volunteer placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections working on the uncatalogued papers of John Worthen, a world renowned D.H. Lawrence expert and former member of staff at UoN. Yunyu’s placement concentrated on Worthen’s work as …
Uncovering feminism and sexism in the University Archives
May 13, 2024
This is a guest post by Samantha Brinded, who volunteered with Manuscripts and Special Collections between May 2023 and March 2024. For decades, student magazines have played an integral role in university culture, and the University of Nottingham is no exception. In 1939, students established a newspaper called Gongster following on from the campus arts …
A Painter and A Petition
May 9, 2024
In late 1841, Henry Pelham-Clinton, 4th Duke of Newcastle, received an unusual request in the post, comprising of a letter and petition from a man named as Thomas J. Williams asking for financial support to attend the Royal Academy in London, in order to hone his talents as a painter. In the petition, which is …
Handling History – a recent archive placement
April 23, 2024
This is a guest post by Jessica Reynolds, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between February and March 2024, as part of the Faculty of Arts placement scheme. Working as a volunteer at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections felt like working as a Detective! Whilst on the Arts Faculty Placement module, …
dear sisters exhibition opens
April 10, 2024
Manuscripts and Special Collections were delighted to welcome so many people to the launch of the exhibition dear sisters: activists’ archives at the Weston Gallery last month. The exhibition was officially opened by Professor Shearer West, the University of Nottingham’s first female Vice-Chancellor, and Vandna Gohil, CEO of Nottingham’s Women’s Centre. Both spoke of the importance …
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