Kathryn Steenson
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Chilwell Shell Filling Factory Explosion
June 3, 2014
On 1st July 1918, a huge explosion ripped through the National Shell Filling Factory at Chilwell, killing 134 workers and injuring twice as many more. The vast majority of the dead could not be identified and were buried in a mass grave in St Mary’s Church, Attenborough. Astoundingly, the factory was back in production the …
Finding your Family
June 2, 2014
Within the 4 million documents held in Manuscripts and Special Collections are the names of hundreds of thousands of people from Nottinghamshire and the broader East Midlands. Catalogues can never list every person named in documents, so one of the major challenges of family history research is finding which records may refer to your ancestors. …
Maps, Military and More at Mayfest 2014
May 14, 2014
Manuscripts & Special Collections staff were kept busy at The University of Nottingham’s annual community open day, Mayfest, on Saturday 10th. We were again fortunate that enough staff are prepared to help out for us to keep two stalls running for the whole day. This year’s theme for our Portland Building stall was maps. Two …
Money in Manuscripts & Special Collections
April 7, 2014
It’s not an anniversary many of us care to celebrate, but yesterday saw the start of the new tax year, and so it seems appropriate to post about some examples of historic money that we have in our holdings. Although we come across many unusual and surprising things when processing uncatalogued documents, it’s rare that …
A Family Reunion
March 10, 2014
This is a guest post by Library Assistant Nicholas Blake. I never expected to discover that my new place of work was home to an archive collection of my family’s documents dating back hundreds of years. It was only after I’d been interviewed for my library assistant post here at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts …
Rain, Records and Research
February 17, 2014
January has been declared the ‘wettest month since records began‘ in parts of Britain by the Met Office, with many towns in Wales, the South West and Home Counties flooded and facing yet more storms. Several thousand miles away, the USA shivered as the Polar Vortex brought temperatures as low as -26C, and at least nine states recorded …
From Manuscripts and Special Collections, with Love
February 14, 2014
Nobody who has stepped into a supermarket or watched TV this past week can have failed to notice that today, Friday, is Valentine’s Day. Although the day has been associated with love since about the 14th century, sending Valentine’s cards and poems has only been commonplace amongst the general public for the last 200 years. Many …
Happy New Year!
January 31, 2014
No, we’re not almost a month late; today, Friday, is the start of the Chinese New Year celebrations. Also known as the Spring Festival, it is one of the most important festivals in the Chinese calendar. There are many regional variations in the celebrations, but traditionally the festivities last for several days and begin with …
Chekhoviana: Marketing a Foreign Classic to British Audiences
January 28, 2014
Our first exhibition of the year opened last week in the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre. Visitors may notice a few changes, as the space has been decorated to reflect recurrent images of birch trees and seagulls found in the British marketing Chekhov; an appropriately visual setting reflecting the highly visual exhibition of Chekhovian theatrical ephemera …
All the World’s a Stage!
December 18, 2013
Panto season is upon us, and families across the country will be visiting theatres to enjoy this predominantly British form of entertainment. Those of you who follow us on Twitter @mssUniNott may have seen the programme for a performance of ‘Alice in Wonderland’ staged by University College Nottingham students one hundred years ago today. Lewis …
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