{"id":2355,"date":"2026-05-01T09:28:37","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:28:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/?p=2355"},"modified":"2026-05-01T09:28:37","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T09:28:37","slug":"classics-from-my-childhood-a-literary-leicester-event","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/library\/2026\/05\/01\/classics-from-my-childhood-a-literary-leicester-event\/","title":{"rendered":"Classics from my Childhood, a Literary Leicester Event"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Guest post written by Alyssa Walker (BA Ancient History and History), as part of a student placement hosted by Archives & Special Collections for the 2nd year History module, ‘Working with History: The Heritage Field Project’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Literary Leicester<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Archives<\/a><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Literary Leicester Instagram<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The Event, 21st March 2026<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A recounting of my placement experience in the University of Leicester’s Archives & Special Collections.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Step back in time and rediscover the stories that shaped your childhood!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Join us for an enchanting journey through rare books and archives, featuring beloved classics such as Black Beauty<\/em> and The Jungle Book<\/em>, the iconic comic magazine Bunty<\/em>, and treasures from Leicester\u2019s own literary legends Sue Townsend (The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13\u00be<\/em>) and Ann & Reg Cartwright (Norah\u2019s Ark<\/em>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Alyssa Walker, Second Year (BA Ancient History and History) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Starting in February,\u00a0I was given the task to curate and select\u00a0a\u00a0collection of books to display\u00a0at\u00a0an event\u00a0in\u00a0just under two months\u00a0as part of the\u00a0Literary Leicester<\/a>\u00a0festival. The name of our\u00a0pop-up display\u00a0was\u00a0\u2018Classics from my Childhood\u2019,\u00a0a\u00a0theme based around\u00a0\u201cclassic\u201d\u00a0books from childhood throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. To find said books, my search began in the rare\u00a0bookstore\u00a0at the\u00a0University of Leicester\u00a0Special\u00a0Collections<\/a>.\u00a0I completed background research on the kind of literature children of the 19th<\/sup>\u00a0and 20th<\/sup>\u00a0centuries were exposed to\u00a0and searched\u00a0through the extensive catalogue of rare books in the store to gain a feel for the breadth of material I could work with.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once I had identified a broad number of books to search through, I then spent many days pouring through the books, looking for artwork, illustrations, doodles, and scribbles – anything that gave the books a sense of childhood nostalgia. I wanted to produce a mix of work that people would recognise and relate to, but also a number of slightly more abstract children\u2019s works that were especially fascinating or special. Naturally, several quintessential books stuck out to me: The Jungle Book (Rudyard Kipling), Alice in Wonderland (Lewis Carroll), Bunty, Black Beauty (Anna Sewell), and The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole (Sue Townsend). These books, I thought, would be instantly recognisable and nostalgic for the expected audience at the event. A number of books that I had never heard of but my supervisor Sarah suggested were predominantly nineteenth century picture books and Victorian manuals, populating the tables with some amazing imagery and stories that were moralising and educational.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Soon with less than a month to go I began to curate the tables, drawing out plans on scraps of paper and\u00a0making mock tablescapes to picture how the event would unfold in the room.\u00a0I needed to\u00a0come up with\u00a0a way of\u00a0displaying\u00a0the books with\u00a0somewhat\u00a0limited\u00a0resources and in a\u00a0conservation-friendly\u00a0manner, using foam blocks and cushions to support spines and\u00a0book pages.\u00a0Moving even closer to the time of the event I created table graphics and\u00a0conducted\u00a0further\u00a0research into\u00a0a select number\u00a0of the authors behind the books, finding out some\u00a0fascinating\u00a0things along the way\u00a0(Mary Lamb, co-author of \u2018Tales from\u00a0Shakespeare\u2019, killed her mother at their dining room table!).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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On the day of the event,\u00a0we packed the tables with books and archival material. We\u00a0pulled\u00a0bits\u00a0from the\u00a0Sue Townsend<\/a>,\u00a0Rose Griffiths<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Reg\u00a0and Ann Cartwright<\/a>\u00a0archives, bringing in tangible and personal elements\u00a0to the tables.\u00a0With each\u00a0of the four\u00a0tables\u00a0bursting with stories and images, I would say we successfully brought the \u2018Classics from my Childhood\u2019 theme to life, providing an enriching and fun session for members of the public as part of the festival.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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This placement has opened my eyes to life within a library and specifically within an archive, and it has been incredibly enriching and informative for me \u2013 I would recommend this experience to anyone who has the chance!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Finally, I would like to thank Sarah, for putting up with me in this placement so far and for helping me at every stage of this process, and for everyone in the University of Leicester Special Collections team who helped to pull out resources and provided support along the way.  <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>

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