Meet the Participants
January 4, 2024
Hatfield Chase, a low-lying marshland straddling Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, once teemed with wild birds, fish and deer – the pursuit of many a party on this royal hunting ground. However, by 1626, Charles I had drained the nation’s coffers and sought an innovative solution to his financial woes: employing another Charles (Vermuyden, a Dutch engineer) …
Bloody Flux and the King’s Evil
December 21, 2023
This is a guest post by Jayne Muir, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between April and September 2023, cataloguing medicinal herbs and their uses in remedies from material held in our collections. The byways, meadows and cottage gardens of Britain were once a vast larder of ingredients from which oils, ointments, tinctures, pills, …
Mysteries of the Forest
December 14, 2023
Sherwood Forest has deep roots in Nottinghamshire’s history, folklore and culture: there is perhaps no other place which is so emblematic of the county. We are fortunate enough to hold several records about this remarkable area – including a collection of two manuscript volumes featuring copies of statutes, ordinances and extracts from the forest courts. …
The Ballad of the Cherry Tree
December 11, 2023
This is a guest post by Trish Kerrison, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between April and September 2023, cataloguing medicinal herbs and their uses in remedies from material held in our collections. In Mrs Willoughby’s Housekeeping Book of 1737 (MS 87/4), to which Mother Bird is a frequent contributor, there is a receipt …
Introducing the Feminist Archive (East Midlands)
November 22, 2023
The Nottingham Feminist Archive Group and Manuscripts and Special Collections are delighted to announce the creation of: FME: The Feminist Archive (East Midlands) FPC: The Feminist Publications Collection The two new research collections are the result of a collaboration between the University and local activists who have been contributing their photos, papers and memories for …
Cataloguing History: Time with the Manvers Collection
November 21, 2023
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, …
A Blessing and A Curse
November 8, 2023
The Rushall Psalter is a remarkable manuscript in many ways: it is an undoubtedly beautiful volume which has lived a long and unusual life – not to mention the fact that it is the subject of a 600 year old curse… As suggested by its name, the volume’s content is largely religious in nature, consisting …
Marginalia in a Medical Manuscript
October 25, 2023
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 …
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 …
History of Hallward Library Part 4: Legacy of the Library
October 4, 2023
2023 marks fifty years since the opening of Hallward Library at the University of Nottingham. In this fourth and final blog post we delve through the University archives and contemporary publications kept at Manuscripts and Special Collections to explore the history of this unique building. The new University of Nottingham library opened in August 1973 …
Find, follow, join us
