Kathryn Steenson
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Living Letters
October 12, 2023
We may be living in the world of WhatsApp, email and TikTok, but our new exhibition Living Letters shows that letters still very much have their place in society. With examples from the medieval period to the present, the personal and the professional, sent by the famous and the forgotten, the exhibition captures the variety of …
A grand day out from Rochdale to Nottingham via Aachen: to Know Power
June 27, 2023
This is a guest post by Helen Chicot, Reform and Prevention Lead at Rochdale Borough Council It honestly felt like an act of rebellion. In our little Whatsapp group, we half-joked about what the dress code might be (opting for “radical chic with arty vibes”) and took care to plan the snacks for the journey, …
The History of the Historian of Science
May 15, 2023
This is a guest post by Anna Vogt, History undergraduate. Although I am a history student, I have also always been fascinated with science, especially the ways in which the humanities and STEM subjects intersect. As such, I jumped at the opportunity to undertake a placement with Manuscripts and Special Collections working on the papers …
Plants & Prayers
April 30, 2023
Healing is what makes us human – but concepts of health and methods of healing have changed much over time. Visitors to our latest exhibition Plants and Prayers: health and healing before 1700 will see how healthcare in the past was not just the domain of the physician: priests to apothecaries to housewives all provided …
Adult Education and Workers’ Control
February 22, 2023
This is a guest post by Tony Simpson, from the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and Spokesman Books. The ‘Knowledge is Power’ exhibition at Weston Gallery celebrates the University of Nottingham’s Adult Education Department. In the wake of the First World War, the Ministry of Reconstruction established a special committee which, in its final report in …
Experiencing Adult Education at Nottingham
November 21, 2022
This is a guest post by Mark Gilman, Professor of Economics at the University of Derby. Knowledge, Power and Class are words close to my heart. As a working-class lad who left school on a Friday in June 1976 and started work on the Monday, with little formal qualification, education left me feeling as though …
Discovering the digital: Developing born digital access
November 3, 2022
This is a post by Laura Peaurt, Digital Preservation Officer. Today we celebrate World Digital Preservation Day. The theme for this year’s event is ‘Data for All, For Good, Forever’, and this event is a chance for us to reflect on our work within Manuscripts and Special Collections to collect, preserve and make accessible our …
One hundred years on: New types of University and new possibilities for lifelong education?
October 21, 2022
This is a guest post by Dr Iain Jones, Honorary Assistant Professor at University of Nottingham. From 27 October 2022 – 12 March 2023, Lakeside Arts is hosting an exhibition ‘Knowledge is Power: Class, Community, and Adult Education’ and a series of lunchtime talks. The University established the first Department of Adult Education in 1920 …
Holinshed’s Chronicles: Shakespeare’s textbook
October 17, 2022
In the 1540s, bookseller and printer called Reyner Wolfe had a grand ambition to write a ‘universal cosmography of the world’, an enormous work that would cover the history of every nation complete with up-to-date illustrations and maps, and, to make it more accessible, written in English. It was quickly apparent that this was well …
My experience interning for Manuscripts and Special Collections
September 27, 2022
This is a guest post by Helena, who successfully applied for a Faculty of Arts funded summer work experience placement. I’m Helena, a second-year History student at the University of Nottingham and I had the amazing experience of getting a placement and working at King’s Meadow Campus for a couple of weeks. My role was …
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