Nottingham Advantage Award Placement: Working on Westacott
November 30, 2015
This is a guest post by Sophie Burton, an undergraduate student in the Department of History. For the Nottingham Advantage Award ‘Experience Heritage’ module I have been conducting a weekly placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections. The placement has informed me about the different roles within the heritage sector. I have undertaken digitisation work on …
The Unloved Chimney
November 20, 2015
In the Feb 1st 1968 issue of University of Nottingham student newspaper Gongster there appeared a riddle. “What am I?” it teased. Even more excitingly, it suggested that if you were to aid this forgetful soul in establishing its identity then “a reward may well be given”. The riddles’ clues were, for the most part, …
Expressing the Unspeakable
November 3, 2015
A version of this post appeared on the University’s LGBT History blog earlier this year. It’s often overlooked compared to Lady Chatterley’s Lover or its sequel Women in Love, but a century ago this month, D H Lawrence’s The Rainbow was the subject of a court case about sex, literature, and censorship. The set-up is typical for a …
Purchasing Pansies: a new addition to the DH Lawrence collections
October 27, 2015
Manuscripts and Special Collections has recently acquired an important original typescript of D.H. Lawrence’s Pansies. The typescript was purchased by the University of Nottingham with assistance from the ACE/V & A Purchase Fund and the Friends of the National Libraries. The title of the volume of poems has nothing to do with the flower of …
Back to the Future: Time Travelling with the University Time Capsule
October 20, 2015
The countdown is on to the date that Marty McFly and Doc Brown went ‘Back to the Future’ in the sequel to the classic Universal film. But as all archivists and historians know, you don’t need a souped-up DeLorean to travel through time. Imagine being transported back to your parents’ teenage years? That’s just what it’s like …
Spotlight on Slavery
October 18, 2015
Today is Anti-Slavery Day in the UK, which was established to raise awareness of the estimated 20 million people worldwide currently living in slavery. This year also sees the 150th anniversary of the formal abolition of slavery in the United States. The 13th amendment to the Constitution declaring that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude…shall exist within the …
Manuscripts Mysteries: Canada, Cake and Clergymen
October 12, 2015
The stereotypical, romanticized view of archives is one where researchers delve into a box of yellowed, long-forgotten papers to uncover clues and solve a mystery. But what happens when the boxes present more questions than they answer? For the last few months we’ve been turning to social media in an attempt to find out more …
Keeping Pace with Sporting Developments
September 30, 2015
To mark National Sporting Heritage Day, we’re looking back at some very local sports history in the archive. Whether an avid athlete or committed couch potato, the Sports Centre on University Park campus has played a key part in the University life of many students over the decades. As well as sport, it was also a …
Going Global! A History of the University of Nottingham
September 24, 2015
Our latest exhibition at the Weston Gallery opened last week, and it’s about a subject that is very close to us. Going Global! uses the University’s archives to show how a University College with a few hundred students grew to become the world’s first truly global University. The documents and objects on display trace the …
Tri Campus Collecting: Freshers, punks, and trainspotters in the University Archives
September 20, 2015
A warm welcome to the #UoN Freshers who will be attending the Welcome Festival at University Park, Nottingham. Here you will be able to find out about all the clubs and societies that will distract you from any residual homesickness over the coming months, and help you to meet the friends you will hopefully cherish …
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