Focus on Special Collections

Welcome to our Focus on Special Collections blog! Each month we will look at different collection and find out about the person or people who created it, the historical and social background, the contents of the collection and its possible research applications. This month we are looking at the Nolan Committee Papers. Background The Nolan […]

ESCALA and The Environment

In her work, Dr Lisa Blackmore, a Senior Lecturer for the School of Philosophy and Art History, has identified environmental challenges as an urgent issue. Latin America, with a significant indigenous population, vast biodiversity, and colonial history that continues to mark the present, is a fascinating locus from which to examine the climate crisis. It […]

Owlbert Investigates – November

Owlbert’s Special Item of the Month Greetings! It’s time for another look at one of the fascinating items from Special Collections. This month, I’m investigating a book from the collection of the Colchester Medical Society. As you can see from the outside, the book is plainly bound and looks old and quite well used, so […]

Owlbert Investigates – October

Owlbert’s Special Item of the Month Greetings! Welcome back to Special Collections. This month I am investigating a book which is very interesting and very, very old. This book is from the collection of Samuel Harsnett, who was Archbishop of York from 1629-1631. Let’s take a look at the cover, before we look inside. (Books […]

PPS in Special Collections

The Library’s Special Collections contain a variety of materials that cover a wide range of subjects. In this blog, we are going to take a look at some of the highlights of the collections that relate to psychology, psychiatry and psychoanalysis. The Freud Collection When we talk about the study of the human mind, the […]

Owlbert Investigates – September

Owlbert’s Special Item of the Month Greetings! I’m Owlbert and I live in Special Collections at the Colchester Campus library. As well as being a nice place to roost, Special Collections is full of fascinating things. Every month I will be choosing one of these to share with you. The ‘special item’ for this month […]

The Margery Allingham Collection

The library building may be closed, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t share some of our special collections with you. In this blog, we will be taking a look at the Margery Allingham Collection and finding out about the author, and her most famous creation, the detective, Albert Campion. ——————————————— Margery Allingham was born […]

Special Collections is collecting champions

Nigel Cochrane, Assistant Director (Academic & Research Services), Library Services, introduced Professor Susan Oliver, Deputy Dean (Research), as an Essex Special Collections Champion at the inaugural meeting on 30 January 2020. The role is open to academics at Essex and aims to bring together like-minded people from across the University who are prepared to act as ambassadors or advocates for […]

Donated art collection includes top 20th century British artists

We are pleased to announce that a prominent collection of 20th and 21st century works on paper by British artists including Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin, Lucian Freud and David Hockney has been donated to the University of Essex. The selection of artworks form part of the Priseman-Seabrook collection and incorporates work by internationally acclaimed artists. […]

Welcome To The Library!

Welcome Week is flying by, but there’s a few more days left to check out the activities and events still happening across our campuses. If you haven’t had a chance to visit the Library yet, this is your official invitation to wander over, take a tour of the building, and get to know the librarians. […]