Archive of the University of Nottingham: Academic Faculties, Departments and Research Institutes; 1948-2018

Few faculties or departments have deposited any significant quantity of records in the University's archive. The only faculty at present which has deposited anything approaching a full archive is the Faculty of Medicine. The Medical School at Nottingham was opened in 1970 and there are an extensive number of files concerning the planning, governance and administration of the faculty up to the 1990s, with a limited amount of material from after that period. A small amount of committee papers and printed material also exist for the Department of Nursing. A large quantity of material relating to the history of the Department of Chemistry is also present.

A very limited number of records have been received from other departments and faculties. These are in the process of being catalogued, and many are not yet available for consultation.

The transfer of additional material is anticipated.

The University of Nottingham was founded in 1881 as University College Nottingham and became a full university in 1948. From the beginning the academic structure of the university has been based on faculties. In 1948 there were five faculties, Arts, Pure Science, Applied Science, Agriculture and Horticulture, and Education. All of these, apart from Education, were inherited from the University College. A new Faculty of Law and Social Sciences was established in 1958. The name and composition of the faculties has changed a number of times throughout the university's history. As of 2017 there are five faculties, Arts, Engineering, Medicine and Health Sciences, Science, and Social Sciences. Each faculty encompasses a number of smaller departments. In some faculties, departments are grouped together into schools.

Each faculty is chaired by a Dean and has an Academic/Faculty Board with responsibility for overseeing the academic business of the faculty. The Faculty Board reports to the Senate of the University. Initially membership of the Faculty Board was restricted to the Dean, the professors, readers, and those lecturers who were in charge of subjects taught in the faculty, together with a small number of other academic staff who were elected by the faculty. Each board had responsibility for the teaching and examining of the subjects offered by the departments which made up the faculty. The growth in size of the University led to a growth in size and responsibility of the Faculty Boards. From 1963 up until July 2010 membership of each Faculty Board consisted of the Vice-Chancellor, one Pro-Vice-Chancellor, the Dean and Vice-Dean of the faculty, the Professors, Readers, Senior Lecturers and Lecturers in the departments within the faculty and up to 10 persons co-opted by the Faculty Board. The boards had the power to regulate the teaching of the subjects assigned to the faculty, to nominate examiners, to make recommendations for the award of degrees, and to deal with any matters referred to it by the Senate. From July 2010 Faculty Boards were renamed Academic Boards. The membership and constitution of each Academic Board is determined by the Teaching and Learning Board of the University.

The records of each faculty, department/school or institute have been catalogued separately. Within each faculty, department/school or institute the records have been arranged primarily by function. The main series of records include administration, governance, planning papers, historical material, teaching and learning, and published material. Not all of these series are necessarily present for each body. Please refer to the following catalogue entries for further details:

Records of University of Nottingham Departments and Schools (UAD)

Records of University of Nottingham Faculties (UAF)

Records of University of Nottingham Institutes (UAI)

Access conditions for particular files are detailed in the catalogue records. Some files contain information on individual students and staff. Access to staff and student records under 80 years old is restricted under current Data Protection legislation. Some minutes may also be closed for a period of time. Please see our Access Policy or contact us for further advice.

Copyright in all finding aids belongs to The University of Nottingham.

Online: Available on the Manuscripts Online Catalogue, accessible from the website of Manuscripts and Special Collections.

Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.

Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in writing on our Permission to Publish form (see the Reprographics Services part of our website or email mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk)

Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.

Previously held by the various faculties and departments of the University of Nottingham. Transferred to Manuscripts and Special Collections at various times since 1964. Some are complete series; others are chance survivals, transferred by individual members of staff. Other historical records of the university are still retained within departments. The archive can not therefore be considered to be complete, and is constantly being added to.

This collection is just one part of a larger set of records relating to the University of Nottingham. The University of Nottingham archive has been divided into separate collections as follows (please note that collections marked with an asterisk * are still being catalogued):

UAC: Records of Midland Agricultural College, pre-1948

UCN: Records of University College Nottingham, pre-1948

UA: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Academic Faculties, Departments and Research Institutes *

UF: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Estate and Resource Management, including Libraries *

UG: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Governance *

UL: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Student and Staff Life *

UP: Archive of the University of Nottingham: External Relations *

US: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Strategy, Vice-Chancellor's Office and Registrar's Department papers *

UU: Archive of the University of Nottingham: Student, Staff and Alumni Societies *

UMP: Photographs relating to the University of Nottingham and its predecessor University College, Nottingham, collected by various departments and staff at the University *

NUP: Photographs relating to the University of Nottingham and the earlier University College, Nottingham, donated by alumni, former staff and other individuals

UONC: The University of Nottingham Collection, printed and published material about the University of Nottingham and its predecessor University College, Nottingham

Search for the reference number on the Manuscripts Online Catalogue to retrieve records from any other catalogued University collection.

Catalogue of the Records of the University of Nottingham Medical School (UAF1)

Catalogue of the Records of the Department of Nursing (UAD1)