University of Bristol Special Collections

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    • Address
      • Tyndall Avenue, Bristol, BS8 1TJ, England, United Kingdom
    • Opening Hours
      • Mon: 9.15-16.45 Tue: 9.15-16.45 Wed: 9.15-18.30 Thu: 9.15-18.30 Fri: 12.00-16.45
      • Weekends and Bank Holidays: closed
    • Accessible
      • Yes
    • Archival and Other Holdings
      • Our collections are diverse but concentrate mainly on the archives and history of the University, its academics and students, including buildings in which the University is based, and families who have been involved with these buildings.
      • We also hold one of the most complete collections relating to the engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859), his father, Sir Marc Isambard Brunel (1769-1849), and his sons Isambard Brunel (1837-1902) and Henry Marc Brunel (1842-1903).
      • On a political front we hold the Library of the National Liberal Club which includes a fine collection of manuscripts relating to the history of the Liberal Party, with a collection of election addresses for all parties covering 1892 to date. We also hold the Don Bateman collection relating to twentieth century Labour History including the Independent Labour Party and the Spanish Civil War.
      • We hold several family and estate archives including the papers of the Paget Family of East Cranmore, Somerset. We hold the papers of the Pinney Family of Dorset, which includes a large amount of material relating to estates in the West Indies, 1650-1995. We also have a number of small caches of estate and legal papers relating to the West Indies.
      • We hold on deposit the editorial files and other papers of the publishers Penguin Books, and a similar cache of materials for the publishers Hamish Hamilton. The Penguin material includes archives of people connected with Penguin such as Allen Lane, Betty Radice, Eunice Frost, and Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, along with materials relating to the trial against D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover.
      • We hold a small but well formed collection of manuscript materials relating to the congregation of the Moravian Church in Maudlin Street Bristol, 1760-1893, including their Church Library. We hold the papers of John Addington Symonds, (1840-1893), and papers of his daughters Dame Katharine Furse (1875-1952) and Margaret Vaughan (1869-1925). Along with these collections we hold many smaller collections, the majority of which are listed in the National Register of Archives, and all of which we are happy to answer queries about.
    • History
      • The University of Bristol Special Collections has been established since the 1920s. We have always been part of the University of Bristol Library, and collect both printed books and archival materials. The University College, Bristol was established in 1876, and the University of Bristol in 1909. The collecting policy of the Special Collections is to support teaching and research programmes of the University, and to add to current collections depending on whether we are the most appropriate repository to hold such material.
    List of Collections(View as Search Results)