Charlotte Sutton’s Scrapbook
October 16, 2025
Meet Charlotte Sutton, nineteenth-century nature enthusiast, though the intricate pages of her scrapbook… Although scrapbooking has its origins in the commonplace books of the fifteenth century, in the nineteenth century, several factors combined to bring about an explosion in the popularity of this delightfully eclectic hobby. The Industrial Revolution led to the widespread availability of …
Back to School with Dinah Holt
September 22, 2025
Following on from our previous blog, which explored the arduous process of midwifery training in the mid-20th century through the letters of Dinah Holt, nurse and midwife extraordinaire, as she undertook her examinations in 1948 and 1949, today we’re stepping even further back in time to Dinah’s first term of nursing training in 1944… In …
Results Day Special: Midwifery Exams in the 1940s
August 14, 2025
Dinah Holt trained and then worked as a nurse and midwife between 1944 and 1986, working at various hospitals in the East Midlands and as far afield as Switzerland. A lot has changed about nursing education since she undertook her training – the NHS would not come into existence until part way through her training, …
Thoresby’s Lady Rozelle: the Nottinghamshire landowner who loved the open ocean
July 8, 2025
Lady Rozelle Raynes, born Frederica Rozelle Ridgway Pierrepont, had a long life (1925-2015) of chance, tragedy, adventure and happiness. Her parents were Gervas Evelyn Pierrepont and Marie-Louise Roosevelt Butterfield. They were privileged but not titled. Gervas fought with distinction in the First World War and then became a London County Councillor. Marie-Louise’s father had inherited …
From Clues to Context: Exploring Archives as an Archaeology Student
April 28, 2025
This is a guest blog by Yan Chin, a second year Archaeology undergraduate student who completed a placement with Manuscripts and Special Collections in 2025 working on the records of Florence Boot Hall of residence. How does it feel to work with archives, with their rich historical value? As an archaeology student, this question’s been …
Dear sisters: Have you seen this feminist zine?
October 28, 2024
Is it a collage? Is it poetry? Is it a meditation in pink rice bran-based ink? The zine Dear sisters is all of the above. Each page prints a response by a woman living in Notts to second wave feminism. In the 1970s-1990s hundreds of feminist magazines and newspapers circulated in the UK. They rallied …
Photographing artefacts for the dear sisters exhibition
August 27, 2024
This blog post, written by Digitisation Assistant Catherine Martin, highlights the digitisation team’s role in preparing for a new exhibition. Before an exhibition is installed in the Weston Gallery, the digitisation team at Manuscripts and Special Collections photograph every item which has been selected for display, to create images which can be used in publicity, …
Feminist Footnotes
August 9, 2024
This is a guest post by Chiara Rebora, a University of Nottingham student, who recently completed a Summer Research Placement at Manuscripts and Special Collections. Expectations of my role? When I began this placement, I felt under-qualified and completely out of my comfort zone. I had to remind myself I was selected for this placement …
Page 3, pin-ups and double standards
July 10, 2024
Tina Pamplin of the Nottingham Feminist Archive Group, and Sarah Colborne, Archivist at the University of Nottingham, introduce a new addition to the East Midlands Feminist Archive: the ‘For Women Only’ calendar which was produced by Lincoln Women’s Action Group. They compare it to a similar occasion in the University’s history when printers refused to …
Uncovering feminism and sexism in the University Archives
May 13, 2024
This is a guest post by Samantha Brinded, who volunteered with Manuscripts and Special Collections between May 2023 and March 2024. For decades, student magazines have played an integral role in university culture, and the University of Nottingham is no exception. In 1939, students established a newspaper called Gongster following on from the campus arts …
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