September 9, 2015, by Sarah Colborne

Tri-Campus Collecting Project: Time Capsule

Time Capsule Blogs by Sarah Colborne, Archivist (Collections), Manuscripts and Special Collections

The University archives are kept at Kings Meadow Campus in a former television studio that has been adapted to provide special storage conditions.

Manuscripts and Special Collections need your help to enrich the University archive collections and make them more representative!

Here at Manuscripts and Special Collections we support The University of Nottingham by acquiring, preserving and developing archives, manuscripts and rare books for use in teaching, research and public engagement. This year we have established a Tri-Campus Collecting project in order to gather material created by students, staff, and alumni from the Malaysia, China and UK campuses to complement the official institutional records.

The University records (minute books, letters, reports and publications) tell the story of the early beginnings of University College Nottingham, in 1877 (which from 1881 was based at Shakespeare Street in town), and the early development of University Park from 1920 onward. Unfortunately, coverage of the more recent development of the University is not nearly as comprehensive. We have very little material in the University archives which tracks the foundation and development of the China and Malaysia campuses, or even Jubilee and King’s Meadow, making it difficult to tell the story of the University’s growth into a truly international institution. (See my UNMC blog about the issues surrounding collecting material from the various campuses!).

Students lounging around on the terrace of Trent Building, University Park, 1948; UMP/1/13/42

The papers of former students and employees tell the story of what it was really like to study and work at the University. Those we have already are used by researchers in our reading rooms, by relatives from around the world wanting to find out more about their family members, and by staff involved in promoting the University. But we need more!

There are some wonderful blogs, videos, etc., being created at the moment which document student life, and we hope to be able to preserve these digitally for the University archives. We are also collecting material gathered as part of the celebrations of the 15th anniversary of The University of Nottingham in Malaysia.

Students from Cripps Hall, University Park, having a water fight, 1971; from ACC 885

However, we’d like to launch our Tri-Campus Collecting project, by creating a ‘time capsule’ of photographs submitted by students and alumni from ALL campuses. These will be collected for inclusion in the University archives, and our favourite entries will be published on this Time Capsule Blog for all to enjoy (anonymously if you prefer!).

We want YOU to contribute by sending in photographs you’ve taken that represent:

• Accommodation (hall, private rented, parents home, journey to lectures, etc.)
• Studies (lectures, revising, exams, studying on or off campus, technologies used, etc.)
• Interests (societies, sports, charity work, socialising, culture, food, etc.)
• Relationship to your campus (department, where you meet friends/go to be alone)
• What you like best about being a student (or what your worries are)

Send each photo with a brief caption (who/what/when/where), and a paragraph explaining why the photo was chosen. Don’t forget to tell us your campus, year of study, and degree/department.

Photographs with no accompanying information can cause a great deal of confusion for later researchers! Who is this student in the bath? And is this a good place to be reading the Student Union rag mag ‘Chickerah’? c.1950; MS 292/1/101

We’re hoping for an international tri-campus response!

Submit your entries via:
• Twitter: @mssUniNott, #UoNTimeCapsule
• email: mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk

Follow this blog to find out more about the exploits of former students uncovered in the archives and to see the latest submissions: https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscripts/category/Time-Capsule

Find out more about Manuscripts and Special Collections at: www.nottingham.ac.uk/mss

Visit our new exhibition featuring archive material from our collections: ‘Going Global: A History of the University of Nottingham’, at Nottingham Lakeside Arts, on University Park from 18th September 2015: http://nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/exhibitions/westongalleryexhibition.aspx

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