Audrey Beecham: Warden, historian, poet, anarchist, feminist, and champion of the underdog

Helen Audrey Beecham (1915-1989) came to the University of Nottingham in 1950 having been    appointed warden of the newly built Nightingale Hall, which at the time was a women-only hall of residence. She served as warden and also lecturer in social and economic history for 30 years until her retirement in 1980.  Before coming …

The History of the Historian of Science

This is a guest post by Anna Vogt, History undergraduate. Although I am a history student, I have also always been fascinated with science, especially the ways in which the humanities and STEM subjects intersect. As such, I jumped at the opportunity to undertake a placement with Manuscripts and Special Collections working on the papers …

History of the James Cameron-Gifford Library, Sutton Bonington Campus.

Dr James Cameron-Gifford was a leading agriculturalist born in 1909.  He first came to Nottingham in 1942 when he was appointed as Technical Officer with the Nottingham War Agricultural Committee.  The object of the committee was to increase the county’s food production, and among the many tasks allotted to Cameron-Gifford was the development of a …

Documenting the pandemic and beyond: website captures for the University Archives available to view

This is a post by Laura Peaurt, Digital Preservation Officer and Sarah Colborne, Archivist (Collections). Capture and Preservation  In a previous blog we discussed using Preservica, our digital preservation platform, to successfully capture websites and social media for the archive. This is known as web archiving.  The tools provided by the platform allow us to …

My experience interning for Manuscripts and Special Collections

This is a guest post by Helena, who successfully applied for a Faculty of Arts funded summer work experience placement. I’m Helena, a second-year History student at the University of Nottingham and I had the amazing experience of getting a placement and working at King’s Meadow Campus for a couple of weeks. My role was …

George Green Library: A Photographic History

George Green Library, originally known simply as the Science Library, was one of various buildings funded in the 1950s and 60s which signalled a massive investment in science teaching and research at the University of Nottingham, facilitated by the Vice Chancellor of the time, Bertrand Hallward. Although the proposed Science Library was originally conceived to …

International Women’s Day: Dr Edith Becket

Dr Edith M Beckett (1877-1952) was one of the earliest students of University College, Nottingham, where she obtained a London BA degree in 1898. Unlike some universities, London (and thus by extension University College Nottingham, which did not award its own degrees) allowed female students to earn a degree, rather than simply complete their studies …

Explosives: a Shaw-fire way to get students’ attention!

The Department of Chemistry has kindly entrusted over a century of records to Manuscripts and Special Collections, with thanks to Dr Samantha Tang for all her help and guidance. This fascinating collection contains a wealth of material relating to personalities within the department, the early days and development of the courses, class reunions, and lots …

An almost entirely cow-free post about cows

You may have seen the recent news that the University of Nottingham has been trialling medication to make cows less gassy and, potentially, reduce methane emissions in the dairy industry. The research is being carried out at Sutton Bonington, and it’s part of a century-long tradition of research carried out there. The Sutton Bonington Campus …

Horticulture

As the grounds of stately homes and houses begin opening up after lockdown, we’re taking a look at horticulture, which can be broadly defined as “the art or practice of garden cultivation and management”. Horticulture features prominently in the estate papers of local aristocratic families, who had the space and resources to create extensive gardens …