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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Nottingham Feminist Archive Group: activist archiving
March 6, 2024
To mark International Women’s Day, find out how the Nottingham Feminist Archive Group have been collaborating with Manuscripts and Special Collections at the University of Nottingham in this guest blog by Group member, Jayne Muir. The upcoming exhibition dear sisters: activists’ archives at Nottingham Lakeside Arts (21st March – 1st September 2024) showcases material from …
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