Manuscripts and Special Collections, The University of Nottingham

Manuscripts and Special Collections is part of Libraries, Research and Learning Resources at the University of Nottingham. It is based at King's Meadow Campus in Nottingham in England. The University has been collecting manuscripts since the early 1930s and now holds approximately 3 million documents, extensive holdings of Special (Printed Book) Collections, and the East Midlands Collection of local material, all of which are available for researchers to use in the supervised Wolfson Reading Rooms.

Manuscript and archive holdings include the papers of leading Nottinghamshire families and their estates, the records of local businesses and organisations, the personal papers of political, diplomatic, literary, scientific and academic figures, as well as some of the historical records of the University and its predecessor, University College Nottingham.

The most important collections of family and estate papers, with material ranging in date from the 12th to the 20th centuries, include:

Literary collections include:

Records of local businesses and organisations include:

The historical records of the University of Nottingham, formerly University College, Nottingham until the Royal Charter granted full University status in August 1948, relate particularly to the development of the University from the 1920s to the 1960s: coverage of the early years following the opening of the College in 1881, and of the last 50 years is less comprehensive. The records include administrative files, accounts, correspondence, minutes, plans, student registers, newspaper cuttings, ephemera, photographs, papers of the Students’ Union and various other student and staff societies, and professional and personal papers of several former members of staff.

Catalogue records of the Special Collections are available through the University of Nottingham Library Online Catalogue.

Catalogue records of the manuscript and archive collections are available on the University’s own Manuscripts Online Catalogue.

The official website of Manuscripts and Special Collections includes more detailed descriptions of collections and subject areas, online exhibitions, e-learning resources, and digitised versions of visual material.

Manuscripts and Special Collections contributed 42 catalogues to the national Access 2 Archives programme, which are now searchable via The National Archives' Discovery Catalogue.

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