Based at the King’s Meadow Campus of the University of Nottingham, Manuscripts and Special Collections holds a number of collections relating to Nottingham organisations and individuals involved in trade unions, left-wing politics, activism and campaigning.

Brief History
The University of Nottingham first began collecting archives and manuscripts in the 1930s. Manuscripts and Special Collections now forms a section within the Libraries department. The collections are accessible to all in the reading room at the King’s Meadow Campus, with regular exhibitions at Nottingham Lakeside Arts and digital resources such as image galleries available on the Manuscripts and Special Collections website.

Collections
As well as institutional records, designated collections of papers relating to D.H. Lawrence and family and estates papers, Manuscripts and Special Collections holds a number of collections relating to labour history, trade unions and political activism, including:
* Records of the Institute for Workers’ Control, IWC
* Nottingham and District Trades Union Council, Tr
* Nottingham Clarion Choir (socialists and other radicals singing songs of solidarity and protest), CCN
* The Feminist Archive (East Midlands), FME
* Papers of Ken Coates (1930-2010) special professor of Adult Education at the University of Nottingham, sociologist and politician, KCS
* Papers of Fred Westacott (1916-2001), communist and political activist, FW
* Papers of Barry Johnson (1931-2020), President of Chesterfield and District Trades Union Council and trustee of Derbyshire Unemployed Workers’ Centre, MS 1037
* Interviews for dissertation ‘Nottinghamshire Women in the Miners’ Strike 1984-85’, MS 1035
* Material relating to the Mining Industry, including some rare ephemera relating to miners’ health and welfare; 1902-1993, MS 672
* Records relating to the National Union of Mineworkers and the Union of Democratic Mineworkers, and to coal mining in Nottinghamshire; 1893-2009, MS 924

Contact Details
Website: https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/manuscriptsandspecialcollections/index.aspx
Email: mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk
Telephone: 0115 95 14565

Opening Times
Mondays and Tuesdays 9:30am to 5:00pm
Wednesday and Thursdays 9:30am to 6:00pm

Admission
Free admission. Appointment advised.

Transport
A free hopper bus connects King’s Meadow Campus to the Jubilee Campus and University Park. The nearest tram stop is Gregory Street (Toton line). There is plenty of visitor parking and it is possible to walk from Nottingham train station along the canal.

Access Details
Disabled access