Cataloguing History: Time with the Manvers Collection

This is a guest post by Andy Judson, a student volunteer studying towards a PhD in History at University of Nottingham. He recently completed a 60-day placement funded by the Midlands4Cities Doctoral Training Partership and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The placement engaged him to work with part of the extensive Manvers Collection, …

Marginalia in a Medical Manuscript

This is a guest post by Tabitha Gresty, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between April and September 2023, cataloguing medicinal herbs and their uses in remedies from material held here at Manuscripts and Special Collections. Since working on the Early Modern Recipes Research project, I have been constantly amazed by the breadth of …

Working with the Coventry Patmore Collection

This is a guest blog by School of English Placement student Louise Roberts, who in 2023 worked on cataloguing additional papers of Coventry Patmore (1823-1896) When learning about Victorian literature, there is no doubt that Coventry Patmore’s poem The Angel of the House will be mentioned as one of the most influential pieces of literature …

Reading the correspondence of the Duchess of Portland

This is a guest blog by Arts Faculty Placement student Nabiha Iqbal, who in 2023, worked on cataloguing the papers of Dorothy Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1750-1794). I was granted the unique opportunity to revisit the lives of the noble men and women of 18th century England through their primary means of communication: letters. Each …

The History of the Historian of Science

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 …

The Ken Coates collection – the coal mining industry and its decline in Nottinghamshire

This is a guest blog post by Law student Ceyhan Ballioglu, who undertook a placement with Manuscripts and Special Collection in 2022. During the Autumn semester of my second year at the University of Nottingham, I had the opportunity to volunteer at the Manuscripts and Special Collections Department. Here, I was given the chance to …

Experiencing Adult Education at Nottingham

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 …

One hundred years on: New types of University and new possibilities for lifelong education?

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 …

Around with William Parsons

This is a guest post by Dr David Beckingham, Associate Professor in Cultural and Historical Geography at the University of Nottingham and curator of the exhibition ‘Last Orders: stories of alcohol and abstinence in the East Midlands’. The task of putting together this exhibition was enabled by the cataloguing work of colleagues and volunteers at …

Matt Marks archive collection: ‘The Bridge’ and how it came to be

This is a guest post by Aldea Toth, 2nd year English undergraduate at UoN who completed a student placement working on the archive of Matt Marks.  When I was volunteering at the Manuscripts and Special Collections Department, I had the pleasure of archiving the works of the late Matt Marks, who was once a student …