Managing collections during the global pandemic - Archives: A year in lockdown Healthcare, a history - University of Nottingham
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The University of Nottingham’s Manuscripts and Special Collections
ISSUE 14: JANUARY 2021
Managing
collections
during the global
pandemic
Archives: A year
in lockdown
Healthcare, a history
Online exhibition:
Florence Nightingale
comes home
WELCOME
Editor’s
Letter from the Keeper letter
W I
elcome to the latest edition of Discover. and new digital galleries created and an exhibition have been editing Discover since the first is-
When I wrote my last welcome piece, lit- on the theme of editing DH Lawrence will be held sue in 2015. When we launched it we want-
tle did I realise that it would be the only in the Weston Gallery. Amy Bowler has been sec- ed to communicate with our researchers,
Newsletter that we published during 2020. As a onded as the Archive Cataloguer (and Rachael Or- supporters and exhibition visitors about the
result of the pandemic we closed services down chard has returned to cover her substantive role) IN THIS ISSUE work we do, our amazing collections and new
on 21 March 2020 and staff began working from and we welcome back Jonny Davies as the Digiti- developments.
Contents
home. You can find out more about the variety sation Assistant. Discover is normally published three times a
of work staff were undertaking elsewhere in this During the year we have made two additions year, but Covid-19 forced us to cancel the last
magazine. to the Lawrence collection. The autograph manu- two issues of 2020. To make up for it we’ve got a
During the first lockdown, we continued to script of Lawrence’s essay, Pictures on the Wall was bumper issue this time, focusing on some of the
visit Kings’ Meadow Campus to undertake week- acquired from the USA with support from the ACE/ work achieved during the past year, including
ly building inspections. We then had a phased V&A Purchase grant fund. The location of the man- the implementation of our digital preservation
approach to re-opening services, which required uscript was previously unknown and reveals many 2 Letter from the Keeper system and the launch of our DH Lawrence
a huge staff effort. I would like to thank staff for revisions and corrections in Lawrence’s hand. The project. We also take a look back at our lock-
their resilience and readers for their patience, and acquisition of the typescript of Maurice Magnus, down diary, which regular readers of our blog
Editor’s letter will recognise.
hope that during 2021 we can return to normality.
In spite of Covid-19, lots happened throughout
Dregs: A Foreign Legion Experience by an American,
c.1918-1922, corrected by DH Lawrence, was sup- 3 Whilst there’s a certain pleasure to be found
2020. On 1 January, management of the Univer- ported by the ACE/V&A Purchase grant fund, the in working your way through a to-do list of be-
hind-the-scenes jobs we were glad to return to
sity’s Museum of Archaeology moved from Lake- Friends of the National Libraries and a private Unlocking the
side Arts to Manuscripts and Special Collections. donation. This can now be studied alongside the 4 DH Lawrence Collection
King’s Meadow Campus in August. Re-uniting
with the collections and welcoming researchers
This followed a Review of the Museum by Dame manuscript of Lawrence’s long introduction, the
Janet Vitmayer and Vivienne Bennett OBE, sup- Memoir of Maurice Magnus, which he wrote to ac- back to the reading room felt like the first steps
ported by an Arts Council England (ACE) Project company Magnus’ book after the author’s tragic on a long road back to normality. We will con-
Grant. The resulting report advised that the man- suicide. 6 Archives in lockdown tinue to operate under revised opening hours
for the foreseeable future. These are subject to
agement move would provide a variety of benefits In March, we heard that we had passed the
including collaborative working on collections, first Archives Accreditation review and that the change so please check our website, and con-
exhibitions and programming. The Museum will Accreditation Panel “... was pleased to see this
8 Healthcare, a history tact us before visiting. We hope to welcome you
stay in its current location on University Park and strong review from a high performing service, soon, and in the meantime I hope you enjoy
I would like to welcome Clare Pickersgill, the Mu- which had been able to address a range of actions reading this issue of Discover.
seum Keeper, and Michelle Johnson, the Museum in the three years since the award. They particu- Florence Nightingale
Administrator, to the staff. larly commended the progress on preservation of 11 comes home
Hayley Cotterill,
Senior Archivist (Academic and Public
The Museum received two ACE grants dur- born-digital records, and the proactive collection Engagement)
ing 2020. The Emergency Fund has provided development.”
£13,500 for a Collections Manager, and for the This edition includes an interview with Linda
development of a remote learning programme Shaw. Linda has worked in Manuscripts and Spe- Five minutes with Linda
based on the Romans, whilst £61,160 from the cial Collections for over 41 years, most recently as 12 Shaw
Culture Recovery Fund will fund additional hours Senior Archivist (Collections). During my seven
for the Collections Manager; digital equipment years I owe her an immense debt of gratitude for
and development; a business review; and learning her advice, guidance and hard work. Above all, her
New accessions and
development.
We were also extremely pleased to be award-
knowledge of the collections will be impossible to
replace. We would all like to pass on our thanks
14 cataloguing
ed an £89,500 grant from the ACE, Designation and best wishes for a well-earned retirement.
Development Fund for a project entitled: ‘Un-
locking the DH Lawrence Collection: cataloguing Digital preservation in
and digitisation for research and display’. This is
the first time that the Designation fund has been
16 action
opened up beyond museums. Although delayed
by the lockdown the project will run for two years.
Two Lawrence collections will be catalogued; all 18 The art of anatomy
the Lawrence literary manuscripts, letters, type- Mark Dorrington
scripts, proofs and works of art will be digitised Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections
Cover image: Cataloguer Amy Bowler at work appraising and
repackaging the Cambridge University Press editorial papers.
2 3
PROJECT UPDATE
Pictured: Cataloguer
Amy Bowler working
on the Cambridge
University Press papers
Pictured, top left to right: and Gerald Lacy and Harry
Advertisements for Cambridge T. Moore on the other. DH
University Press Lawrence Lawrence Collection, La E
edition books, DH Lawrence 1/2/6/1/2/3.
Collection, From La E 1/1. Pictured below, left to right:
The editorial board at the DH Digitisation Assistant Jonny
Lawrence Letters Conference, Davies capturing high quality
13-14 September 1973. Keith images of our DH Lawrence
Sagar is sat at the head of the literary manuscripts.
table with Michael Black and Cataloguer Amy Bowler
David Farmer on one side, recording data.
Unlocking the
DH Lawrence Collection Anyone familiar with early twentieth century archi-
val collections knows just how vulnerable they can
be. Our Lawrence manuscripts are no exception,
bridge edition started in the late 1960s with the
aim of publishing every single extant letter written
by Lawrence, and soon evolved into an ambitious
many being written in soft pencil on thin, acidic project to publish a scholarly edition of Lawrence’s
paper, or bound using poor quality materials and complete works, a three-volume biography, and a
I
t is exactly a hundred years since DH Lawrence’s ful evening after the death of a miner in a colliery workmanship, which has led to important margina- comprehensive bibliography of everything written
novel Women in Love was first published, yet a accident) Lawrence’s revisions at the editorial stage lia being obscured. The preservation work carried by the author. The papers at Manuscripts and Spe-
century later the appeal of the controversial mod- included entirely rewriting the ending of the story. out will mean that in a few cases the manuscripts cial Collections document over 40 years of editori-
ernist writer remains unabated. Manuscripts and In 2008, the Museums, Libraries and Archives and artworks will be al work and painstaking academic research by the
Special Collections holds one of the world’s largest Council designated our DH Lawrence Collection as seen in their original Cambridge team.
collections of Lawrence’s literary manuscripts, as being of outstanding national and international im- state for the first time The aim of the Cambridge edition was primarily
well as the correspondence of Lawrence and his portance, and earlier this year we received a grant in decades, whilst digi- to get back to Lawrence’s final version of each title
contemporaries, original artworks and first editions. from the Arts Council England Designation Devel- tisation will reduce the The digitisation before cuts and revisions imposed by censors and
We also hold a wealth of supplementary material in- opment Fund. This grant enables us to undertake need to handle the frag- editors. The controversial and boundary pushing
cluding photographs, newspaper cuttings, editorial a two-year project aimed at making our Lawrence
strand of the
ile originals. nature of Lawrence’s writing, born into an England
papers, research papers and ephemera relating to collections accessible to a wider audience. The pro- The cataloguing project will see only just shaking off the shackles of Victorian social
the commemoration and study of one of England’s ject will incorporate a number of different elements, strand of the project will the creation of and sexual propriety, meant that so much of the au-
greatest writers. including the digitisation of Lawrence’s correspond- provide access to previ- over 10,000 high thor’s chosen text was altered by publishers, keen to
Literary manuscripts provide a truly invaluable ence and literary manuscripts, the creation of brand ously uncatalogued sec- appeal to a popular audience and avoid any brush-
window into the mind and creative process of the au- new catalogues for previously unlisted sections of tions of our Lawrence
quality digital es with the law by violating the Obscene Publica-
thor. This is especially true of a writer like DH Law- the collection, and an events programme centred Collection. These are images of our tions Act. Perhaps the most famous (or infamous!)
rence, who revisited and revised many of his works around an exhibition at Lakeside Arts curated by papers relating to the unique Lawrence example of this editorial expurgation is Lawrence’s
over many months or even years. These revisions are world-renowned expert on DH Lawrence, Dr An- Cambridge Universi- final novel Lady Chatterley’s Lover, which the author
evident at every stage in the life of his works from drew Harrison.
literary
ty Press edition of the was forced to self-publish overseas in Florence and
handwritten first draft to finished publication. Our The digitisation strand of the project will see the Letters and Works of DH manuscripts, smuggle back into England, so that his audience
DH Lawrence Collection contains numerous ex- creation of over 10,000 high quality digital imag- Lawrence, and related letters and could read the definitive version of his masterpiece
amples of page and galley proofs sent to Lawrence es of our unique Lawrence literary manuscripts, research papers of the artworks. in print.
for checking, but returned to the publisher full of letters and artworks. Sixteen percent of the images late James T. Boulton After a delayed start due to the Covid-19 pandem-
his handwritten scribbles and amendments. In the will be from The White Peacock, the only example of (1924-2013), a former ic, project work is now underway at King’s Meadow
case of his short story, Odour of Chrysanthemums (an a manuscript novel by Lawrence remaining in the University of Nottingham academic and one of the Campus. The project runs until March 2022.
emotional tale following a family over a single event- United Kingdom today. foremost Cambridge editors. Work on the Cam-
4 5
PROJECT UPDATE
LOCKDOWN BIG FIGURES
Archives in lockdown 22,000
historic, hard-copy,
conservation records entered
into a spreadsheet
2,144 images had their
L
ike many people, staff in Manuscripts and Conservation metadata upgraded
Special Collections spent the first nation-
1,547
al lockdown working from home. Instead of Conservation really is one of those tasks that it is im- pages digitised so far as part
having constant access to our archival and special possible to do remotely. With no access to the origi- of the ‘Unlocking the DH
collections we were suddenly faced with trying to do nal documents or books, all repair and repackaging Lawrence Collection’ project
work came to a halt, but this gave our two conser-
204
our jobs remotely. So how do you run an archive ser-
vice whilst socially distanced from the collections? vation staff time to do one of their favourite things Archdeaconry penances
It turns out there is more than can be done than you – catch up on their paperwork. indexed online
might think. As part of our upgrade to CALM we decided to
This is a taster of just some of the tasks that have make better use of the Conservation database with-
occupied our time. in it, and use it as a place to store information about staff to easily retrieve an image from amongst the
cleaning, conservation thousands that we have, we then need to add de-
Cataloguing and preservation work
carried out on docu-
scriptive metadata.
Put simply, metadata is data about data. De-
Cataloguing archives is normally dependent on hav- ments and books over scriptive metadata relates to a piece of information
ing access to the items that you are working on. We the past twenty years.
It is important
such as a photograph, and gives information about
weren’t able to take the collections home with us, so Work has been ongo- that we it such as a title. We have a substantial backlog of
how do you describe something that you can’t see? ing to transfer this his- document digitised images that need metadata adding. Fortu-
Our answer was to focus our cataloguing efforts on toric conservation data nately, this is a job can be done from home without
conservation
enhancing existing descriptions and upgrading our from handwritten paper needing access to the physical item.
online catalogue. documentation sheets treatments on Enhancing the metadata includes recording the
Our archival collections are catalogued using into a spreadsheet. our collections, reference of the item an
CALM – the most commonly used archive manage- “It is important that and this should image is from, as well as
ment software. One important jobs that we achieved we document conser- noting the type of doc-
in lockdown was testing and installing the latest up- vation treatments on
be accessible
ument it is (e.g., letter,
grade to CALM. Moving to the new version enabled our collections, and this forever so poem, map, etc.), and a Descriptive
us to update the look and feel of our Manuscripts should be accessible for- that in future description of the con- metadata relates
Online Catalogue and make it more responsive ever so that in future we we (or other tent. Perhaps the image to a piece of
when viewed on different devices. The new version (or other conservators) shows a particular per-
of the catalogue went live in June: https://mss-cat. can see what treatments conservators) son, place, or building.
information such
nottingham.ac.uk/Calmview/. have been carried out. can see what Maybe there are animals as a photograph,
We enhanced the descriptions of a number of This kind of informa- treatments have in the image, or people and gives
collections during lockdown, one of which is the ar- tion helps if further wearing specific clothing.
chive of the historic Archdeaconry of Nottingham
been carried out. information
treatments are required, If we do this in enough
(AN), one of the most extensive manuscript collec- as we can then establish detail, then for future pro- about it such as a
tions that we hold. The Archdeaconry court, an ec- what chemicals and treatments are suitable to use. jects we can search based title.
clesiastical court, had jurisdiction over almost the It is also useful to help assess how well a treatment on a keyword and find all
whole county of Nottingham. People were brought has acted over time. of our digitised images
before the court for a wide variety of offences, in- Once all the data is in a digital format on the that fit that keyword.
cluding religious dissent, non-payment of church spreadsheet it will be transferred onto CALM and As well as being useful for staff this
dues and superstitious practices. By the mid-eight- will be beneficial in creating a better understand- also benefits our customers. When
eenth century, the court’s attention was focused on ing about the collections and what has been done images are added to our publicly ac-
the problem of illegitimate births. A common pen- to them”. cessible digital galleries, the descrip-
alty imposed was the performance of a penance, or – Emma Bonson, Preservation Assistant tive metadata is there and ready for Pictured, from top: Our staff’s home
act of contrition, and offenders could be excommu- users to search. offices, occasionally complete with
nicated for non-compliance. Metadata This is a selection of just some of a feline assistant. Above: Example
of an image in Portfolio with (left)
The majority of the Archdeaconry collection the jobs that staff are able to do from
is already catalogued in great detail but we have a We digitise hundreds of items a year from our col- descriptive metadata.
home. You can find out more by read-
longstanding project to catalogue the penances. lections – sometimes a single page from a document
ing the ‘lockdown diary’ posts on the
When we realised that lockdown was coming we or a book, at other times an entire multi-page doc-
Manuscripts and Special Collections
copied hundreds of penances so that cataloguing ument – and these images are stored in our digital
blog.
work could continue at home. asset management software, Portfolio. In order for
6 7
SPOTLIGHT
Pictured, opposite page: The
nineteenth century had some
Healthcare,
odd ideas about nutrition.
Patients on a gin diet may
have been vitamin deficient
but probably didn’t care.
a history
General Hospital Nottingham
Diet Sheet; n.d. [1800-1889].
Records of Nottingham
General Hospital, Uhg X/9.
Pictured, right: A list of items
provided to the hospital, all
of which were hand-made by
W
hether clapping on doorsteps or painting volunteers from a list supplied
rainbows for home-school art lessons, by the Matron. Nottingham
many people have expressed gratitude General Hospital Linen Guild
for the National Health Service during this coro- Annual Report, 1930. Records
of the General Hospital
navirus pandemic. As a University with a Medical
Nottingham Linen Guild and
School (based at QMC in Nottingham) and a reg- League of Hospital Friends,
istered NHS place of deposit, we have shelves full Hlf R/7.
of hospital archives, patient records, and medical
books covering every speciality in great and grue-
some detail.
For most of us, it’s hard to imagine what life – or
death – would be like without the NHS. Before its
creation in 1948, pain and discomfort from chron-
ic conditions were accepted as part of everyday life, cy of £500 towards building a County Hospital, on which must have been
and illness was, for the most part, something to be the condition another £1,000 was raised within five incredibly reassuring. As late as
dealt with at home. years. The hospital also spec- 1924 domestic
We know about this informal, domestic health- Contributions came from the Duke of Newcastle ified what clothing pa- servants
care because diaries and letters are full of details steeped them in first. It is also true that in the eight- and the Nottingham Corporation, who each gave tients needed to provide
about the health of the writer, their friends, and fam- land for the hospital site, industrialist Richard Ark- on admission. The Hos-
and soldiers
eenth century, whatever concoctions the doctor pre-
ily. Disease was com- scribed wouldn’t cure them, either. wright, Peter Nightingale (the great-uncle of Flor- pital Linen Guild was could only be
monplace and every Pregnancy and birth were considered normal as- ence who herself revolutionised healthcare almost a established at Notting- admitted if
fever brought the fear pects of women’s lives and not ones automatically re- century later), and congregations in local churches. ham General Hospital
that it would develop
their employers
quiring medical intervention. Local midwives relied The opening report praised the subscribers both to provide patients and
into something serious. For most of on years of experience rather than any formal train- for their compassion in relieving the suffering of the staff with necessary gar- agreed to pay for
Recipes for tonics and us, it’s hard to ing to assist mothers-to-be with labour, and passed poor, and, as poor people were “a very necessary and ments like pyjamas, sur- their treatment;
cure-alls were swapped down skills through informal apprenticeships. Mid- useful part of the Community”, congratulated them gical gowns and masks, patients with
as often as recipes for imagine what in ensuring the poor remained economically viable. and provide the Matron
wives were licensed, but through the church, and common
cakes, and traditionally life – or death our earliest record dates from 1612. One likely ex- After all, “the sweat of their brow, and the labour of with funds to buy blan-
the distinction between – would be like planation is that lay people can perform baptisms their hands, it is owing, that the Rich enjoy the ac- kets. Sewing groups gave contagious
the medicinal and culi-
without the in an emergency, and with infant mortality rates so commodations of ease and pleasure”. help in kind, and raised diseases such
nary was blurred. Pub- The rich not only enjoyed ease and pleasure, cash through donations
NHS. Before
high, this responsibility might fall to the midwife. If as smallpox,
lished guides on house- a birth was complicated, the local doctor might be but had the privilege of nominating patients to be collected by members.
hold management its creation in sent for, but he would have little, if any, specialist treated. Nottingham General Hospital admitted Such acts of charity were measles or
that every respectable 1948, pain training in maternity cases (which wouldn’t be com- non-emergency patients, provided they had a let- deliberately very public, diphtheria were
middle-class woman pulsory until 1886), and certainly less experience ter of recommendation, and the annual reports turned away;
aspired to own, includ- and discomfort only on Tuesdays be- listed the names of sub-
delivering babies than a popular midwife. and the hospital
ed remedies for com- from chronic Childbirth was routinely a domestic affair until tween 11am and noon. scribers and their annual
plaints ranging from conditions were well into the twentieth century, but general hos- This was generously contribution, just as they did not admit
mild colds and head-
accepted as part pitals offering in-patient care for the sick have ex- extended to 1pm in ex- The rich not only were in the General Hos- pregnant women
aches to jaundice and tenuating circumstanc- pital reports.
of everyday life,
isted in varying forms since at least the medieval enjoyed ease and or children at all.
tuberculosis. It goes period. The eighteenth century saw a boom in the es (“being ill” was not To modern sensibili-
without saying that ros- and illness was, such a circumstance).
pleasure, but ties these local hospitals
number of voluntary hospitals for the poor. They
es, honey and maiden- for the most part, were entirely dependent on private philanthropy to Patients were often re- had the privilege had odd admission criteria. Rules governed how
hair leaves did not cure cover the running costs, and often on doctors and quired to provide a sure- of nominating long in-patients could stay before they had to reap-
these conditions, no something to ty or a named guaran- ply (two months). As late as 1924 domestic servants
surgeons volunteering to cover shifts. Nottingham patients to be
matter how much wine be dealt with at General Hospital opened in September 1782, four tor to cover burial costs and soldiers could only be admitted if their employ-
diligent housewives home. years after Nottingham banker John Key left a lega- in case of their death, treated. ers agreed to pay for their treatment; patients with
8 9
common contagious diseases such as smallpox,
measles or diphtheria were turned away; and the
EXHIBITION NEWS
hospital did not admit pregnant women or children
at all. Isolation (or fever) hospitals and workhouse
infirmaries went some way to provide treatment for
people who could otherwise fall through the cracks,
but healthcare wasn’t always available for people
who needed it.
By the twentieth century, contributory funds for
workers provided basic healthcare cover, and for an
additional fee many schemes extended a more re-
stricted cover to the worker’s family. In some respects,
this just called more attention to the vulnerability
of large swathes of the population. Patients whose
illnesses turned out to be more severe or who suf-
fered complications could suddenly find their claims
denied. Minutes from one hospital committee meet-
ing show a cancer patient’s insurance declined to
pay for their emergency
Florence Nightingale
admission to hospital,
stating it was due to the
existing illness (which
was not covered), rather Campaigners
Comes Home
than a proper emergen-
used the
cy (which was covered).
The committee’s dis- disparity of
cussion wasn’t around access as proof
the clinical merits of the NHS, with
the argument: it was to
a principal
I
decide how soon after n April 2020 we were due to open our exhibition, Pictured, above: Camp
the patient’s death the of universal Florence Nightingale Comes Home, to celebrate of the 97th Regiment
hospital could send the coverage, was the 200th anniversary of Nightingale’s birth.
before the Siege of
Sevastopol, during
family the bill. necessary but Sadly, due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 it has the Crimean War; c.
Campaigners used not been possible to re-open our exhibition gallery.
the disparity of access it wasn’t until Sep. 1855. Newcastle
We still hope that we might be able to welcome vis- (Clumber) Collection,
as proof the NHS, with WWII that there itors to the Nightingale exhibition at some point in Ne C 10884/2/13.
a principal of universal was the political 2021 but in the meantime, there is an online ver-
coverage, was necessary Left: Statue of Florence
but it wasn’t until WWII
impetus to act. sion for visitors to enjoy: nottingham.ac.uk/man-
Nightingale by Arthur
uscriptsandspecialcollections/exhibitions/online/
that there was the polit- George Walker;
florence-nightingale c.1910. From a private
ical impetus to act. The Visitors can take a sneak-peek at three of the exhi- collection.
Emergency Hospital Service was created in 1939 to bition boards, enjoy a guided tour of the exhibition
treat civilian casualties of war, and demonstrated to gallery, turn the pages of
doubters how a centralised, state-run health service our virtual Crimean War
would run. Less than a decade later, the NHS was scrapbook and explore a
Pictured above: Printed broadsheet of the
born. first annual report for Nottingham General digital gallery of Crime-
Hospital, March 1782. Ephemeral papers from an War photographs. Turn the pages
the library at Wollaton Hall, WLC/X/2/2. Florence Nightingale of our virtual
Gone are the days when you could stroll
Comes Home is curat- Crimean War
ed by Manuscripts and
into an operating theatre wearing a natty
Special Collections and
scrapbook
waistcoat, put some coal on the fire, roll up
your sleeves and get stuck in to someone’s the Nightingale Comes and explore a
innards without so much as surgical mask or Home project team, and digital gallery
pair of gloves. Photograph of an operation is funded by the Arts of Crimean War
in progress at Nottingham General Hospital, and Humanities Re-
c.1905. Uhg Ph 2/2/11. search Council. photographs.
Pictured left: The Salve for the Coff, a
family recipe from Margaret Willoughby’s
handwritten recipe book, 1737-1776. Household
books of Margaret Willoughby and the View our exhibition online:
Willoughby family, MS 87/4. nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/exhibitions/online/florence-nightingale
10 11
You’ve worked on so many projects but so much detail – houses, churches, and in one cor-
PROFILE
which ones stand out? ner a group of smartly-dressed people, who appear
to be having a conversation. And I can’t leave out
I’ve mainly been involved in archive cataloguing
diaries. Early on in my career I was lucky enough
projects – including many of our family and estate
to work on the papers of Edward Mason Wrench, a
collections, DH Lawrence, our water collections
Five minutes with... and the University’s own records. The project that
doctor in Baslow, Derbyshire who kept diaries from
1856 to 1912. I had to read all 58 diaries in order
probably stands out the most was the conversion of
Linda Shaw
to catalogue them and for months I was totally ob-
our old typescript catalogues into electronic format,
sessed with his medical work and his patients, his
resulting in much of the data you can now see on
considerable contributions to his local community,
our online catalogue. The reason it stands out for
and his issues in bringing up his children to his very
me is because it took a number of years to complete
exacting standards.
as we had to do it in various stages and it was really
several projects in one. It also involved collaborating
with other archives regionally and nationally. Now-
adays we all take our online catalogues for granted
What is your job title? course, there were no computers in the Manuscripts and we have systems which enable anything we cat-
I’ve had a number of roles over many years, I’ve been Department at this time. To catalogue our collec- alogue one day to appear on the online catalogue
Senior Archivist (Collections) since 2015. tions we wrote notes on slips of paper which were the next, but standardising catalogues created in
then passed to the secretary who typed them up the 1940s and 1950s to fit into a computer system
How long have you worked for Manuscripts onto index cards (and we are still transferring some which they were never intended for, sometimes had
of the information from these cards into our present its challenges.
and Special Collections? day online catalogue!) or typescript catalogues. The
I started work in Manuscripts as an Archives Assis- first computer software we used for cataloguing was What do you most enjoy about the work
tant in 1979 so it’s now over 41 years. From 1992- called Status, which wasn’t very easy to use or very
2015 I worked with my job-share partner Caroline that you do?
reliable. This would have been in the late 1980s. I
Kelly. catalogued about ten maps using this system and af-
I enjoy most aspects of my job and there’s a lot of va- You’re retiring shortly – what will you miss
riety as we have such a range of different collections. most, and what won’t you miss?
terwards the data had to be delivered by hand to the
What does your role involve? But I think what I enjoy the most is going out to look
university’s computing centre to be printed out. The I definitely won’t miss trying to manage a very full
at potential acquisitions and talking with people
I lead the Collections Team in Manuscripts and Spe- next cataloguing system, MODES, was much better email inbox, a problem I certainly didn’t have way
about their papers. I’ve met lots of really interesting
cial Collections and together we acquire new mate- and we started using this in the early 1990s. back at the beginning of my career. But there’s lots
people who, in transferring their records to us, have
rial, and manage and preserve our collections, both of things I’ll miss so much. I’ll definitely miss being
enabled us to develop our resources in the way that
our archives and Special Collections, and we cata- Why did you want to become an archivist? we have. It’s also a great honour to be trusted with
part of a wonderful team and I will miss my talented
logue our archive collections too. The team includes As I was approaching the end of my degree in Me- and dedicated colleagues. I’ll also miss the contact
collections which could represent someone’s life’s
archivists, an archives assistant, a Special Collec- dieval and Modern History at the University of Not- I’ve really enjoyed with our donors and depositors,
work, or have a deep sentimental significance to
tions Librarian, library assistants, a conservator and tingham, I decided that I no longer wanted to teach with our volunteers and student placements and
them. I’ve also visited a lot of different places over
a preservation assistant. We also manage our volun- history at secondary level, as I’d intended at the start with our readers - it’s been great helping people with
the years, offices of course but also private homes.
teer and student placements programme. of my degree. In the days of pre-modular degrees, I their research and to sometimes witness their own
On one occasion I remember having to wrestle my
studied Medieval Latin and Palaeography as a sub- personal ‘Middleton account’ moments! I’ll also re-
bag from the jaws of the family’s dog! I’ve also ‘res-
Can you remember your first day at work? sidiary subject. Mrs Welch taught the Palaeography cued’ collections from factories, almost derelict
ally miss all the collections work and the thrill of be-
Oh yes! Mrs Welch, the Keeper of Manuscripts, asked part of the course so I got to know her and she told ing able to handle original manuscripts, each with
warehouses, water towers and pumping stations. It’s
me to go into the store and have a look at some of the me about the vacancy in the Manuscripts Depart- their own personal history. But it’s been a huge priv-
always really thrilling to open boxes or filing cabi-
documents, by way of introducing me to the collec- ment. I applied for the job and got it and thought it ilege to have been involved for so long in caring for
nets etc. and not know what you’re going to find!
tions. When I eventually decided which box to open would tide me over until I worked out what I wanted the wonderful collections at Nottingham and play-
I was too scared to handle the documents inside, in to do with my life! 41 years later I am still decid- ing a part in ensuring they are accessible now and
What is your favourite collection, or item in the future. I’ve been so lucky to have had such
case I damaged them! So I carefully put the box back ing……! No, within a few days, I knew that archives
was my future. I was one of the first students to enrol
from a collection, held here in Manuscripts an interesting and rewarding job – and all because I
and went in search of more modern material. When
Mrs Welch discovered that I had chosen to look at part time on what was then called a correspondence and Special Collections? chose that Medieval Latin and Palaeography course
mid-twentieth century documents – instead of docu- course (now distance learning) which was run by the That’s a hard question as we have so many wonder- over 40 years ago!
ments that were centuries old – she was very puzzled! professional society for archivists, and I acquired ful collections and items. I really love the accounts
my postgraduate archives qualification in 1983. I in our estate collections such as Manvers, Middle-
How has the job changed? was somewhat fortunate in that the palaeography ton and Newcastle – they are so full of social histo-
part of the course was taught by my colleague who ry and I think they are a really underused resource.
Things were very different when I first started. There
was the Assistant Keeper of Manuscripts. He had I can still remember the absolute thrill I felt in my
were only five other members of staff in Manuscripts
had copies made of certain documents in the collec- first week in Manuscripts when I came across the ac-
besides me and Mrs Welch (who had been appoint-
tions, which were sent out to students on the course counts for the building of Wollaton Hall in the 1580s
ed the first University Archivist in 1947). She was al-
to transcribe. However I was able to look at the orig- in the Middleton Collection (Mi A 60), a building I
ways known by us as Mrs Welch – none of us would
inal documents, which were much easier to read knew well having walked and jogged round the park
ever have called her by her first name. I spent my
than the copies my fellow students were obliged to many times as a student. I also love the maps and
time cataloguing, retrieving documents from the
work with. plans in the estate collections, although my favour-
store for visitors, answering enquiries, and later on,
ite plan is probably the 1639 plan of Hatfield Chase
creating displays in our modest exhibition area. Of
in our water related collections (HCC/9044). It has
12 13
RECENT ACQUISITIONS
sical Theatre Writing at the Tisch School of the Organising, Nurses for the Sick Poor in Workhouse
Arts at New York University, where he received the Infirmaries, published as part of the Report of the
Frederic Loewe ASCAP award for Musical Thea- Committee appointed to consider the Cubic Space of
tre. He collaborated with numerous theatre groups, Metropolitan Workhouses, with papers submitted to the
and worked with New Perspectives, Roundabout, Committee. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by
and playwright and director Stephen Lowe, whose Command of Her Majesty (London 1867).
archives are also held by Manuscripts and Special After Nightingale’s campaign to improve the
Collections. The collection contains files, music management of army hospitals during the Crimean
manuscripts, artwork, audio-visual material and War, she laid the foundation of professional nursing
photographs. Marks’ friends and collaborators have with the establishment of her nursing school at St
offered to help with cataloguing the collection, Thomas’ Hospital in London. It was the first secular
which documents the achievements of a large sec- nursing school in the world (now part of King’s Col-
tion of the local arts/theatre/music scene. lege London). In the Suggestions Nightingale turned
A retired University academic has donated a her attention to workhouse infirmaries. She was
fascinating collection (MS 1025) of letters, papers determined that the sick poor should be treated the
and photographs relating to China and Tibet in the same as the rest of the
1930s. These belonged to Edward Alfred Steward- community, and given
son (1904-1973), who in 1935 was appointed Pro- the same standard of
New accessions
fessor of Physics at the National Central University nursing. Both reports
in Nanking (Nanjing) as a result of an Anglo-Chi- show Nightingale’s fun- In the
Pictured: A selection
of photographs nese Cultural Agreement. The collection includes damental understand- Suggestions
by Edward Alfred letters to his parents and photographs taken in ing of nursing and pub- Nightingale
and cataloguing
Stewardson, Ms 1025. countries such as Korea, Vietnam and China. Stew- lic health as a common
good for all society.
turned her
ardson married Winifred Muriel Jones in Shanghai
in 1936 and two years later the couple went on an Further notable ad- attention to
expedition into Eastern Tibet. ditions have been made workhouse
A typed volume of letters documenting the Tibet- to the East Midlands infirmaries. She
an life and customs observed during this expedition, Special Collection. We
with accompanying maps, is also present in the col- have acquired two nov- was determined
lection. Following the outbreak of the Second World els by JM Barrie pub- that the sick
D
espite the many challenges posed by 2020 Papers of University of War, Stewardson was appointed head of Physics at lished in 1888, at the poor should be
we were still able to take in new additions to
the collections and continue with catalogu- Nottingham staff Leicester University College, becoming their first
Professor of Physics in 1946. He went on to have a
beginning of his literary
career. They are con-
treated the same
ing work. Below is a taster of just some of the things Professor Martin Binks, Professor of Entrepreneurial long and fruitful career at Leicester working on soft nected to Nottingham as the rest of
that we have been working on. Our work during Development in the Haydn Green Institute for Inno- X-ray spectroscopy and atomic physics. by the stint of journal- the community,
lockdown on the archive of the University itself will vation and Entrepreneurship here at the University, ism Barrie completed at and given the
be covered in the next issue of Discover. has donated papers relating to his work for the Wilson Special Collections the Nottingham Journal,
same standard of
Committee in the late 1970s and 1980s (MS 1027). from 1883 to 1884.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging The purpose of this Committee, chaired by Sir Har- We have made important additions to the East Mid- Here Barrie wrote daily nursing.
old Wilson, was to review the role and functioning lands Special Collection in support of our online ex- lead articles and Mon-
Following the successful completion of our MRI hibition Florence Nightingale Comes Home: two first
of financial institutions in the United Kingdom, and day columns under the
project, as reported on in previous editions of Dis- editions of reports written by Florence Nightingale
their value to the economy. Professor Binks provided pseudonym Hippomenes, along with Thursday es-
cover, we remain keen to acquire further collections and published as (part of) official findings following
information on small businesses, particularly relat- says attributed to ‘A Modern Peripatetic’. His articles
relating to Magnetic Resonance Imaging. We were enquiries commissioned by the British government.
ing to their financial status and investments. The pa- can be viewed in the print issues of this newspaper,
therefore delighted to receive a collection of papers The reports ensued at two distinct turning points
pers provide detailed information about small firms held in the East Midlands Special Collection. They
from the British and Irish Chapter of the Interna- in the history of nursing and hospital sanitation.
from a range of industries including engineering document the author’s striving to find his literary
tional Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine In both instances Nightingale combined her exper-
and textiles, chiefly in the Nottingham area. They voice through journalism.
(MS 1023). The ISMRM is a non-profit scientific tise as a nurse and talent for data analysis to devise
include completed questionnaires from individual The new acquisitions, Auld Licht Idylls and When
association, which promotes communication and practical solutions and institute standards that es-
firms surveyed, transcripts of recorded interviews a Man’s Single, mark Barrie’s breakthrough to suc-
research on magnetic resonance in medicine and tablished nursing as a profession.
and background information about the companies. cess. Both draw on his affinity for provincial social
biology. Many of Nottingham’s MRI scientists past Nightingale’s first report about army hospitals
The Committee’s report was published in 1980. circles, particularly from his native Scottish town
and present have been members of the ISMRM, in the Crimean War was published in the compre- Kirriemuir and Nottingham, where he first staked
and the current Chair of the British and Irish Chap-
ter is Professor Penny Gowland from the Sir Peter Records from individuals hensive Report upon the State of Hospitals of the Brit-
ish Army in the Crimea and Scutari, Together with an
his claim to a self-reliant life away from home. Ac-
cording to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, When a
Mansfield Imaging Centre. The collection includes We recently acquired the collection of Matt Marks Appendix (London 1855), compiled by a govern- Man’s Single is ‘a humorous transcription of his ex-
committee meeting papers, and papers relating to (MMM), musician, composer and performer who ment-appointed Commission of Enquiry. This is periences as a journalist, particularly in the Notting-
annual meetings and symposiums, from the 1990s sadly died in 2019. Matt Marks studied Creative now in the East Midlands Special Collection. ham office’.
and 2000s. Arts at Nottingham Trent University, Composition The second report we purchased is Nightingale’s
at the University of Nottingham (1996) and Mu- Suggestions on the Subject of Providing, Training, and
14 15
PROJECT UPDATE
Even when we can read a disk, we may still strug-
gle to make sense of the digital files on it. Many files
were created in early word processing or publishing
software formats that have fallen out of use today.
Uploading this content into our digital preser-
vation system allows us to analyse and report on
risks to continuing access. Preservica includes built
in viewers for playing back digital content and in-
cludes out of the box ability to migrate files to more
user-friendly file formats for our researchers to eas-
ily access today. Of course, we always preserve the
original files as deposited with us.
Collecting new types of digital
content
As well as helping us to manage and preserve our
existing digital collections and expand our ability to
collect digital content in the future, Preservica also
gives us tools to collect new types of uniquely digital
content, in particular emails and websites.
We have been looking at ways to collect digital
content that reflects life on campus such as that
created by the Student
Union and student so-
cieties. Now for the
first time, we can col-
Digital preservation
lect web-based content
Along with
such as webpages, for
example the Univer- the rest of the
sity’s home page, and archive sector,
in action
blogs, including the we are very
Vice Chancellor’s and
the Registrar’s.
aware of the
Along with the rest importance of
of the archive sector, we documenting
are very aware of the im-
work related to
2
020 has been a challenging year in many ways, ades later. If we use this same approach to manage portance of document-
but it has been a year of great progress for dig- our digital content, we risk it becoming inaccessible ing work related to the the pandemic
ital preservation of our collections, as we have within a few short years due to the pace of techno- pandemic for the bene- for the benefit
procured and implemented a digital preservation logical change, with the fragility of some digital for- fit of future generations. of future
system (Preservica) to help us actively manage our mats rapidly rendering hardware and software out We have been able to
generations.
digital collections. This system will allow us to en- of date and unsupported by current platforms. make a start on captur- From the old, to the new
sure these collections can be safely preserved and Digital files held on physical media carriers such ing key digital content,
accessed by future generations of researchers. as floppy disks are recognised to be at greater risk such as blogs and press Pictured top and opposite page: Image shows a
We have been acquiring digital collections for of loss due to the fragility or obsolescence of the releases, to document the University community’s variety of CDs, DVDs and Floppy Disks received by
many years, often arriving in the form of CDs, physical media carrier itself. Over the past year we response to these challenging and difficult times Manuscripts and Special Collections.
DVDs and 3.5 inch floppy disks, hidden in boxes have been concentrating our efforts on transferring and we are continuing to seek other relevant digital
amongst paper records. We have also created digi- digital files held on CDs, DVDs and 3.5-inch flop- content. This image shows Preservica capture of the Virtual
tal content ourselves through our image digitisation py disks into our online digital preservation system, Suggestions for online content published by Open days website, an online experience created by
the University in 2020 to allow students to remotely
programme and projects to digitise audiovisual col- and this work will continue over the next year. Once members of the University which ought to be cap-
explore the campuses and courses. Archive of the
lections such as VHS tapes. files have been transferred from a disk and upload- tured for posterity would be very welcome: mss-li- University of Nottingham: Student and Staff Life,
We know that digital content faces several risks ed into our preservation system, we are able to link brary@nottingham.ac.uk UL/E/5.
to its long-term preservation including hardware them to our collection management system. This We have written several blog posts about our work
and software obsolescence, hardware failure and ac- means that, once catalogued, researchers will be with digital collections to date, including a blog giv-
cidental damage. However, one of the biggest risks able to access these digital files in our reading room ing tips on how to preserve your own personal digi-
to digital content is ‘benign neglect’. We are used to directly from the Manuscripts Online Catalogue tal content including that created on social media.
storing paper records away in a cupboard and being without needing to retrieve or find equipment to Go to https://blogs.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscripts
able to easily return to, and use, those records dec- playback multiple physical disks. to find out more.
16 17
VOLUNTEER AND PLACEMENT WORK
The art of
anatomy
LAURA MERCER, POSTGRADUATE RESEARCHER IN book. Sometimes a great assortment of topics can be
CLASSICS AND ARCHAEOLOGY found in a single volume. The Works of Ambrose Par- Pictured: Drawing of a skull, in Charles Bell,
ey (1691) contains images ranging from animals, to Illustrations of the Great Operations of Surgery
T
he Nottingham Medico Chirurgical Society skeletons with props, to “monsters” (people with de- (1821). Med Chi Collection, Over.X WO100 BEL,
barcode 6001885368.
is one of the oldest medical book societies formities). There are also multiple surgical scenes,
in the country, so it is unsurprising that its such as one depicting the restoration of a dislocated “The human brain” by Christopher Wren, in
library contains many works of scientific value. thigh, with the figures wearing contemporary cloth- Thomas Willis, Dr Willis’s Practice of Physick
Yet the importance of this collection extends far ing and operating a pully system. (1684). Med Chi Collection, Os WZ250.W51
beyond the medical community. There are many Other works contain illustrations demonstrating WIL, barcode 6200619173.
beautiful (if slightly macabre at times) illustrations how to carry out procedures and the instruments
hidden throughout these works; illustrations that required. Brothers Charles and John Bell both illus- Lithographic drawing of dissection of a human
body, showing the thoracid aorta and the
are of artistic value. A volunteer project, run by trated their own works,
intercostal arteries, with the intercostal veins
Manuscripts and Special Collections, aims to cata- Illustrations of the Great by Joseph Maclise, in Richard Quain,
logue highlights from the illustrations and uncover Operations of Surgery The anatomy of the arteries of the human body
more about them, such as their illustrators, print- (1821) and The Princi- with its applications to pathology and operative
ing techniques and significance. As a PhD student ples of Surgery (1806), surgery... (1840-1844). Med Chi Collection,
A highlight of Over.X WG168 QUA, barcode 6001885116.
I was attracted by the opportunity to apply my re- to educate the reader
search skills to a new area and investigate the his- on the techniques need- this project for
tories and stories behind these images. ed. Of note is Charles me is the wide “Ichthyosis hystrix” in New Sydenham Society,
Atlas of Skin Diseases. Uncatalogued.
Already this project has uncovered some famil- Bell’s drawing of a skull range of works
iar names not usually associated with the medical with multiple fractures
field. Thomas Willis’ book Cerebri Anatome (1664) to demonstrate the cir-
covered and
has a surprising illustrator: Sir Christopher Wren. cumstances of using the challenge of diagnosed with Ichthyosis Hystrix (Epidermal Ne-
Best known for his later work as an architect, Wren each tool. dealing with a vus) with brown papules covering her back, neck
spent his earlier years studying subjects including A highlight of the col- new subject area and arms. Burgess designed the remaining plates,
astronomy, mathematics and medicine. According lection is The Anatomy of which were drawn from life and said to be life-size.
to his son, Wren was slightly bitter about leaving the Arteries of the Human and illustration While several of these images could be considered
these fields and complained that “King Charles II Body: with its Applica- style in each gruesome, they effectively capture the emotional
had done him a disservice in taking him from the tions to Pathology and Op- book. distress caused to the patients by their condition. As
pursuit of those studies, and obliging him to spend erative Surgery (1841- John Hutchinson (the society secretary) writes in
all his time in rubbish (architecture)”1. Wren was a 4) by Richard Quain, the preface, the plates are “not only illustrations of
student of Willis and often participated in dissec- illustrated by Joseph Maclise. This work contains typical varieties of disease, but faithful portraits of
tions. He drew the illustrations of the brain, skull chromolithographs of dissections to showcase the individual patients”.
and cranial and autonomic nerves, whilst the vol- arteries inside a body. Fabric bindings, metal pins The Nottingham Medico Chirurgical Society,
ume’s other illustrations were done by his co-illus- and hooks, and blocks used to position the corpse commonly known as Nottingham Med-Chi, was
trator Richard Lower. The most famous illustration are included in the illustrations as are the surgical founded in 1828. The Med-Chi Library contains
is Wren’s ‘figure of the human brain viewed from tools in the background. approximately 700 volumes. The majority of these
below displaying the cerebellum and nerves’ – the Also to be found in the collection are books on have been catalogued electronically and the en-
so-called Circle of Willis. This was later reproduced, skin conditions. A notable example is the Atlas of tries can be viewed on NUsearch the University of
with minor variations, in Dr Willis’s Practice of Phys- Skin Diseases published by the New Sydenham So- Nottingham’s library catalogue, https://nusearch.
ick (1684). ciety, which contains watercolours by Edwin Bur- nottingham.ac.uk. To browse the Collection, en-
A highlight of this project for me is the wide range gess, who served as both the illustrator and lithog- ter the collection reference MCS in the search box.
of works covered and the challenge of dealing with rapher for this work. The first seven plates were Manuscripts and Special Collections also holds the
a new subject area and illustration style in each copied from Ferdinand Ritter von Hebra’s Atlas der administrative archive of the Med-Chi Society, col-
Hautkrankheiten (1856), including one of a woman lection reference MCH.
1 Parentalia.
18 19Contact details
Manuscripts and Special Collections
University of Nottingham
King’s Meadow Campus
Lenton Lane
Nottingham NG7 2NR
mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk
+44 (0)115 951 4565
nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections
@mssUniNott
Parchment, Parchment, Paper and Pixels provides a
taster of the wonderful collections held by
Paper and Manuscripts and Special Collections.
Pixels This iBook introduces you to a selection of archives, maps,
photographs, posters and music covering the globe from
Iceland to China by way of Nottingham and the Soviet Union.
Highlights from Manuscripts
and Special Collections at Download for free at:
the University of Nottingham nottingham.ac.uk/open/ebooksandibooks.aspxYou can also read
