Bees in the Collections

The University of Reading houses one of the largest collections of bee-related material in the United Kingdom. The works contained within provide vital insights into historic social and political perceptions of the world’s most important pollinators. This exhibition showcases some of the most significant apian-related works, held by the University and beyond, from the sixteenth to the twentieth century which demonstrate how social and cultural perceptions of bees and hives changed as British society evolved.

This exhibition is the output of a Undergraduate Research Opportunities Programme (UROP) project undertaken in the summer of 2020. Entitled ‘Bees in the Collections’ this project set out to explore the rare book collections of the University of Reading to examine the linguistic and social meaning of bee colonies within varying political contexts. The political climates examined ranged from early modern absolute monarchy in Britain, to British colonial endeavours in India.

Online exhibition curated by Olivia Blackburn.

The UROP project, ‘Bees in the Collections’, was supervised by Professor Helen Parish and Dr Rohan Deb Roy from the Department of History, University of Reading.

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Bees in the Collections

The University of Reading houses one of the largest collections of bee-related material in the United Kingdom. The works contained within provide vital insights into historic social and political perceptions of the world’s most important pollinators. This exhibition showcases some of the most significant apian-related works, held by the University and beyond, from the sixteenth […]

Embellish’d with gold: treasures from the European Manuscripts Collection

Example image from European Manuscript Collection

Before the invention of the printing press in around 1440, all books were written by hand.  The word manuscript comes from the Latin words manus and scriptus, which together mean ‘handwritten’. Nearly all medieval manuscripts were decorated, or illuminated, in some way, usually by monastic scribes.  Illuminations were added in order to enhance the text, using rich, […]

Cole and his library

Bloch, Ichthyologie (1796) Cole 394

A book collector and bibliophile from his schooldays until his death, Francis Joseph Cole (1872-1959) amassed a huge library of around 8000 volumes of books and scientific papers, from earliest times to the present day. As Professor of Zoology at the University of Reading, Cole founded the Cole Museum of Zoology and used his magnificent […]

A Lady of England

The haunted room : a tale / A.L.O.E., 1821-1893. London. 1894.

Children’s literature is one of our collection strengths and we have thousands of books and magazines produced for children. Here we celebrate A.L.O.E. (A Lady of England), who wrote books for children during the Victorian era. Learn more about our Children’s Collection.