Openness in Research: The Modernist Archives Publishing Project (MAPP)
Virtual Volunteering with Special Collections in the Archives of British Printing and Publishing . We are thrilled to announce that the Special Collections and The MERL team have won one of the University of Reading’s 2023 research awards, selected for the ‘Openness in Research’ category. In this blog, Project Archivist, Helena Clarkson describes the project […]
Steam engines and Samuel Beckett: My Experience as the Graduate Trainee Archive Assistant
Written in September 2022 by Rebecca Keddie, Graduate Trainee Archive Assistant 2021-2022 My time as the University of Reading Graduate Trainee Archive Assistant is drawing to a close. The last reference numbers are being written, Adlib entries made, and reading room enquiries dealt with. This past year has been an amazing experience; I have learnt […]
Genealogy through Gingerbread: Using the Huntley & Palmers archive to research family history
Throughout the summer, ourselves and Reading Museum have been celebrating the 200 year anniversary of Huntley & Palmers, the biscuit company which was based in Reading and is intertwined with its cultural history. Now that our programme of events is winding up, we’re looking forward to how people in Reading and around the world can […]
Conserving a magical menagerie: the conservation and rehousing of the European Manuscripts collection
Written by Victoria Stevens, ACR The existence of manuscript fragment collections represents a fascinating snapshot of cultural and political points in history, showing the changing attitude and purpose of these beautiful objects over time. Although originally bound, the manuscript textblocks became separated into individual leaves or pairs of leaves, known as bifolia, when their intended […]
Christopher Okigbo and the politics of publication (3/3)
This is the third and final post in a series written by Temiloluwa Odugbesan, who completed a UROP placement at the University of Reading Special Collections in the summer of 2021. In my final post, I’m going to delve a little bit more into the workings of the publisher and the issues some writers faced during […]
Biafra, the Nigerian Civil War and context in the archives (2/3)
This is the second of three posts in a series written by Temiloluwa Odugbesan, who completed a UROP placement at the University of Reading Special Collections in the summer of 2021. Welcome to the second of my blog posts written during my UROP internship. I have been tracing correspondence specifically relating to the Nigerian Civil War […]
Temporary reading room move – September 2021
Between 31 August and 24 September 2021, the reading room will be moving to the Conference Room to make way for essential maintenance work. The Conference Room is located above the current reading room and can be accessed via the staircase or lift from the locker room. Closure days During this period, however, we will […]