Tin Town: village of the dam builders
April 17, 2012
One of the most exciting finds amongst the water archive material I am cataloguing for the Water Records Project, is a series of significant architects plans for various buildings which formed the ‘Tin Town’ at Birchinlee, Derbyshire. When work started in 1901 on the construction of the Howden and Derwent Dams, the Derwent Valley Water …
An Ancient Historian in the Archives
March 15, 2012
From May to November last year I was given the opportunity to conduct some research in the Manuscripts and Special Collections on behalf of the University’s Gender Histories Network. My task was to identify key areas within the collections that would be of interest to those researching topics related to the study of women and …
“Will you come into my parlour?” said the Spider to the Fly,
March 12, 2012
‘Tis the prettiest little parlour that ever you did spy; So begins the famous children’s poem, ‘The Spider and the Fly’. This is just one of the many poems and stories written by the celebrated Victorian author Mary Howitt whose collection of family correspondence is held in Manuscripts and Special Collections. The Howitts certainly encountered …
Reading the Runes
March 7, 2012
In this guest blog, Judith Jesch, Professor of Viking Studies, highlights items from our Icelandic collections in advance of the forthcoming Fell-Benedikz lecture about runes. We tend to associate runes and runic inscriptions with the Vikings and the Anglo-Saxons, who used this form of writing before Christianity brought them the Roman alphabet and manuscript culture. But in Scandinavia and Iceland, …
Pills and potions in the archives
February 24, 2012
How did our ancestors cope with ill-health, before the days of ready-prepared packets from the local shop? In working with the archives and early publications in the University’s collections, I’ve been taken by the number and variety of herbal remedies that sit alongside culinary recipes in early household books. The ingredients are sometimes exotic and …
Water work: the staff of the River Trent Catchment Board
February 21, 2012
A large leather-bound photograph album, found amongst the archive material I’ve been cataloguing for our water records project, gives an introduction to the work of the Engineer’s Department of the River Trent Catchment Board and the significant events that affected its activities in the years 1932-1939. These events include the building of new premises, …
In The Bleak Midwinter
February 8, 2012
As the nation shivers in the snow and freezing temperatures, we look back at records from the University’s own weather station that suggest that we shouldn’t complain too much about this season’s sudden cold snap. In the winter of 1962-1963, Britain was subjected to incomparably harsh weather conditions. The newly established weather station at the University …
“Mothers and Midwives” goes live!
January 19, 2012
If you’re enjoying the current BBC drama series “Call the Midwife” you can now get a Nottingham perspective on the subject by visiting a new exhibition in the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts Centre. Mothers and Midwives: A History of Maternity in the East Midlands opened on Friday 13 January. Its main object is to explore the …
New water collection descriptions online
January 6, 2012
The latest stage in the University’s National Cataloguing Grant Scheme Water Records Project is the online release of the descriptions of the new collections of material, which have been created by the Project Archivist. Files from 21 different accessions have been organised into several collections based on their provenance. Work continues on arranging and describing …
A clove of gillyflower at Christmas
December 20, 2011
A curious reference to Christmas Day (natale Domini) appears in this medieval deed, which records a land transaction made about 730 years ago. The parties agree to an annual rent charge of a clove of gillyflower ‘unum clavum Gariofilum’ payable at Christmas. A gillyflower is a carnation with the clove being the dried flower buds, …
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