TC Hine: Victorian Autograph Hunter
December 4, 2025
TC Hine is best remembered as the architect of many notable buildings in Nottingham and around the East Midlands, including the Shire Hall, which today houses the National Justice Museum. For all his achievements as an architect, this scrapbook shows that Hine was possibly even more prolific in another field: autograph hunting! This volume, which …
House of Many Names: Tracing the Evolution of Paton House
November 17, 2025
Paton House, a late-Victorian brick building featuring a large canopy over the opening, a conservatory adjoining the library and a Baroque interior, was designed in 1881 by Robert Evans and William Jolley, both of whom were Nottingham-based architects who had been trained by Thomas Chambers Hine. The property, which went on to be built in …
Botanists and Businessmen: meet the residents of Highfield House
August 21, 2025
Although it is today part of the university campus, when Highfield House was built at the end of the 18th century it would have been surrounded by pasture, and home to little more than a herd of cattle. Although the area would soon become well known as the site of luxurious homes for the wealthy businessmen …
Outreach Diary
June 26, 2025
Here at MSC, our outreach calendar is always bursting with a wide range of events, visits and classes– here’s just a snapshot of a few highlights from the year so far… First up, we were proud to co-host the module ‘Exploring the German Archive’ alongside the School of Modern Languages and Cultures! Across 10 sessions, …
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 …
Reading Room Reopening!
September 7, 2020
After almost six months working from home (more about that here) Manuscripts & Special Collections is reopening the Reading Room! We have made changes to our Reading Room procedures to minimise the risk from coronavirus, so even if you’ve visited us before, please read this explaining what you can expect from your visit. New temporary …
Look at our new Digital Gallery!
August 8, 2019
Around 1,500 digitised images from our collections are now available on the Manuscripts and Special Collections Digital Gallery. We have arranged the photographs, cartoons, portraits, maps, manuscripts, and pages from books into collections based on themes. These themes can be browsed from the front page of the Digital Gallery. Click the thumbnail to get to …
How does it feel now you’ve won the war?
June 3, 2015
Guest blog by Dr Richard Gaunt It’s the name of a bridge and a railway station in London, an island in the South Shetland Islands, several townships and cities across Australia, a region in Ontario, Canada and – for good or ill – the title of the most famous song ever to have won the …
Nobel prizewinner at The University of Nottingham
December 10, 2014
Today’s glittering ceremony in Oslo honours the Nobel prizewinners of 2014. Unfortunately, none of them are from our University this year, although in 2004 Nottingham alumni were awarded two Nobel awards: the Nobel Prize for Medicine was given to Sir Peter Mansfield for his pioneering work in Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and an additional Nobel Prize …
‘Why I changed my name and did my duty’
June 23, 2014
This Wednesday sees the second of our lunchtime talks held in connection with our current exhibition ‘All Quiet in the Weston Gallery’. In “Why I changed my name and did my duty”-one family’s experience of World War One, Emeritus Professor Malcolm Jones tells the fascinating story of the three Vince brothers who all enlisted …
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