D H Lawrence (1885-1930)

The D H Lawrence Collection at the University of Nottingham's Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections began in the 1950s prompted by an increasing academic interest in Lawrence's life and works. Since then, the Collection has grown and now forms one of the major international research resources for the study of D H Lawrence.

The Collection contains literary manuscripts, correspondence and artworks by D H Lawrence, enhanced by a wide variety of associated material, including photographs, research papers, biographical material and correspondence between Lawrence's contemporaries. Several discrete archival groups, the papers of different individuals, are included. The manuscript material is supplemented by the D H Lawrence Printed Collection, which provides comprehensive coverage of Lawrence's published works across all literary genres and through all significant editions. Related manuscript collections in the Department include papers of people associated with Lawrence, such as Catherine Carswell, Enid Hilton, Professor Ernest Weekley and David Chambers. The University archives also contain records of Lawrence's student career. The Archives Hub provides a ready link between the Nottingham collections and the papers of another of Lawrence's associates, John Middleton Murry, held at the University of Edinburgh.

The Lawrence Collections at Nottingham have recently been the focus of some attention. The new D H Lawrence Pavilion, part of the University of Nottingham's Lakeside Arts Centre, provides a gallery dedicated to the promotion of the University's Collections, and particularly library materials held by the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections. The first exhibition to be held in the Weston Gallery is entitled 'A Literary Legacy: D H Lawrence at the University of Nottingham', running from 27 September 2001 to 19 January 2002. The exhibition explores Lawrence's connection with the University of Nottingham where he was a student between 1906 and 1908, and describes the development of the Lawrence Collections. It has provided an opportunity to display manuscripts that illustrate Lawrence's influence as a writer and his legacy of original and published works.

A programme of cataloguing and conservation supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund is currently in hand to assist access to the Lawrence Collections. A significant proportion of the finding aids can now be consulted online.

• D H Lawrence Resources page.

You can receive regular updates on our special features by joining our mailing list.