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, …
Advent greetings from Manuscripts and Special Collections
December 1, 2011
Now that the e-advent calendar is live, we have been able to reflect on the project. Has it achieved what we hoped for? Our objective was to use the festive theme to illustrate the great variety of the collections. We wanted to show their potential to tell stories about people, events and past times in …
Book illustrations in Briggs and Porter Collections
November 30, 2011
Recent increasing use of our rare book collections has highlighted their potential for the study of book illustration. The collections offer a wide variety of illustration, from early woodcuts and engravings, to chromo-lithographs and photographs. Illustrative material is not always identified in catalogue entries, but two collections, the Briggs Collection of Children’s Educational Literature, and the Porter Collection of …
Thoroton Society members view historic Bible
November 22, 2011
On Saturday 4 November, members of the Thoroton Society of Nottinghamshire visited the University Park campus for their annual lunch. The Bishop of Southwell was guest at the dinner and gave a brief talk about the King James Bible which was first published in 1611, four hundred years ago. A copy of the 1613 printing …
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