Lest We Forget: Remembering George Eades
1 On 11th November 2025 Archives and Special Collections hosted a visit from Steve and Sheron Wilkinson. Steve and Sheron travelled down from Cheshire in order to attend the Remembrance Day service at Wyggeston and Queen Elizabeth College (WQE) and lay a wreath at the school’s war memorial. They then crossed over to the University […]
Student placement in Special Collections, Week 5-6
Guest post written by Yi-Chen Su and Yongqin Huang, who are completing an eight week placement in Archives & Special Collections as part of their MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies . Yi-Chen Su During week 5 and week 6, we mainly wrote the interpretations for our exhibition. The process of writing the interpretations […]
Student placement in Special Collections, Week 3-4
Guest post written by Yi-Chen Su and Yongqin Huang, who are completing an eight week placement in Archives & Special Collections as part of their MA in Art Museum and Gallery Studies . Yongqin Huang Hello, I’m Yongqin Huang. Weeks three and four of placement were a bit hectic for us, but thankfully, we […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Beautiful and Artistic – Marbled Endpapers
During my time here in Archives and Special Collections I want to highlight something I have found interesting – the distinct patterns found in some rare books. Many notice the leather bindings and the gold tooling but we tend to miss the endpapers. Most of the time when we open a book, we go straight […]
Natasha Callis: My week of work experience
Guest post by Natasha Callis, work experience student. This week, I’ve been doing work experience at the University of Leicester Library. I have worked in lots of different departments have completed lots of different, small tasks related to each area of work in the library, and I have found it to be really informative. When […]
Botanical Illustrations are not only pretty – they remain relevant today
As the University has announced an exciting programme of Summer events at the Botanic Gardens in Oadby, we explore the art of botanical illustration through our Special Collections.