George Green Library: Then and Now

To commemorate 60 years since the opening of George Green Library, Tracey O’Sullivan, Library Advisor, shares her memories and photographs from working there since 1985. Imagine the scene: no computers, no mobile phones, no Wi-Fi, no laptops, no self-service machines, just lots of books, journals and the like; card index cabinets and photocopier machines that …

Time with Lawrence – a student from Malaysia campus on her archive placement

This is a guest post by Yunyu, a student from the University of Nottingham’s Malaysia campus who recently completed a volunteer placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections working on the uncatalogued papers of John Worthen, a world renowned D.H. Lawrence expert and former member of staff at UoN. Yunyu’s placement concentrated on Worthen’s work as …

Handling History – a recent archive placement

This is a guest post by Jessica Reynolds, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between February and March 2024, as part of the Faculty of Arts placement scheme. Working as a volunteer at the University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections felt like working as a Detective! Whilst on the Arts Faculty Placement module, …

Working with the Mining Collections

This is a guest post by Owen Coller, who volunteered at Manuscripts and Special Collections between October and November 2023, as part of the Nottingham Advantage Award scheme. As a humanities student, the opportunity to explore a collection of 19th and 20th century sources through the Nottingham Advantage Award was both a daunting and exciting …

Alisander’s Journey and Other Poems

This is a guest post by Gail Webb, 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.  Alisander’s Journey A species named as Alexanders, known to the ancient Romans, grows green on clifftops, thrusts its way along roads, …

Bloody Flux and the King’s Evil

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, …

The Ballad of the Cherry Tree

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 …

Working with the Feminist Publications Collection

This is a guest post by Amelia Andrews, a University of Nottingham student, who recently completed a Summer Research Placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections Hundreds of magazines, newspapers and newsletters from the late 20th century Women’s Liberation Movement have been donated to University of Nottingham Manuscripts and Special Collections department. Ahead of the upcoming …

A grand day out from Rochdale to Nottingham via Aachen: to Know Power

This is a guest post by Helen Chicot, Reform and Prevention Lead at Rochdale Borough Council It honestly felt like an act of rebellion.  In our little Whatsapp group, we half-joked about what the dress code might be (opting for “radical chic with arty vibes”) and took care to plan the snacks for the journey, …

Adult Education and Workers’ Control

This is a guest post by Tony Simpson, from the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and Spokesman Books. The ‘Knowledge is Power’ exhibition at Weston Gallery celebrates the University of Nottingham’s Adult Education Department. In the wake of the First World War, the Ministry of Reconstruction established a special committee which, in its final report in …