From Berlin to Leicester: A Looted Book’s Tale
Please note that this post contains content relating to suicide and the Holocaust. If you are affected by this topic, please be aware of our available support information for students and support services in the community. e During the summer of 2024 Special Collections received a new book to be added to the library catalogue. Nothing particularly unusual about […]
Letters from the archives
Although today they have fallen out of fashion, letters were once one of the easiest, quickest and most popular methods of communication. They were also used to inform, educate and inspire – and occasionally to cause mischief! From spoofs to student life, royals to rationing, the small display case in the basement of the David […]
Eight Weeks with Ghost Signs
by Grace McWeeney As part of a Museum Studies 8-week work placement program, I worked with the Ghost Signs Collection at the University of Leicester. These are a few things I learned along the way. Ghost signs are not a new phenomenon. As defined by our collection parameters, a ghost sign is a ‘hand-painted advertisement […]
Archives and Special Collections Team Pick!
To mark International Archives Day, which falls on 9th June, I asked my colleagues in Archives and Special Collections to choose one of their favourite collections from our holdings. We hope that this will give you a flavour of our collections and some indication of their range. We really do have something for everyone! i […]
D-Day in the East Midlands Oral History Archive
The 1980s saw many oral history projects start across the UK. At that point there were plenty of people who had lived through both World War One and World War Two, so many recordings featured memories of these conflicts. While many recordings just cover D-Day as a brief memory, some are detailed accounts of people […]
Celebrating National Tea Day in the Archives
Since 2016, 21st April has been designated as National Tea Day, a celebration of all things British. In particular it is a celebration of tea – long held in popular culture to be the nation’s favourite beverage, although some (including the Head of Archives and Special Collections!) might argue that it has now been overtaken […]
Women and their books
To mark World Book Day (7th March) and International Women’s Day (8th March), Archives and Special Collections is showcasing books from our holdings written by women, as well as highlighting some of the women who have links to Leicester and its University. The books shown here range in date from the nineteenth century to the […]
Remembering the Holocaust: The Majut Collection
Please note that this post contains content relating to suicide and the Holocaust. If you are affected by this topic, please be aware of our available support information for students and support services in the community. Saturday 27th January is both the International Day in Remembrance of Victims of the Holocaust and the UK’s national Holocaust Memorial Day (HMD). […]
Student life in the 1980s: what can we learn from Students’ Union handbooks?
Guest post by Jess Pascal, student volunteer. Hello, my name is Jess Pascal and I have been volunteering in the archives for the last two months. My task has been to write descriptive summaries of Students’ Union handbooks to make them easier to find in the catalogue. It’s been a really interesting task – reading […]
Disability History Month 2023
To mark UK Disability History Month, which falls between 16th November and 16th December, Archives and Special Collections are showcasing items from our holdings which shed light on these often hidden histories. / Our collections span a wide time period and their content can contain language and terminology reflecting contemporary attitudes that today may be […]