Welcome to Archives and Special Collections

Anyone is welcome to use Archives & Special Collections - you don't need to be a member of the University.

How can we help?

If you are looking for source material for your research, whether personal interest, an undergraduate essay, a PhD. thesis, or an academic publication, you will find a range of printed books, journals, manuscripts, archives and visual material which may be relevant.

Before you decide upon a research topic, it is advisable to find out what sources are available.  Your secondary reading will give you some pointers, and there are a number of gateways and indexes online which can help with this.  If you are researching for an academic piece of work, it is important to talk to your tutor or supervisor at an early stage. They may know of important material, may also be able to suggest avenues of research, and ways of improving your proposal.

It is also important to talk to us - we can’t tell you exactly how to do your research, and it certainly isn’t our job to do it for you! But we may know of relevant source material and could save you time in duplicating effort.  Access is by appointment for personal visitors, or through our remote access services, so please get in touch in advance.

What do we hold?

• Archives: documents which were generated and used by an individual or organisation (including families) in the course of their daily activities, and which are preserved for their continuing value. Archives provide primary evidence of the transactions, processes and events they record.
• Special collections: printed books and journals regarded as special because of their age, rarity, fragility, provenance, association and/or financial value.
• Some visual collections, including works of art, photographs and objects.

---