University Day Nursery Collection

A collection of documents relating to the Manchester Students Day Nursery. Most of the material relates to the first decade of the Nursery's operation, 1966-1976, and there is comparatively little material for the period after the Nursery left Oxford Road. The documents include circular letters, newsletters and notices issued by the Nursery, advertising services, newspaper cuttings dating from the 1960s to the 1980s, including reports of campaigns for improved facilities, and photographs and architect's plans of the Oxford Road nursery at the time of its conversion and opening.

The collection does not include minutes of the Nursery's management and parent committees (c.1966-1973).

The Manchester Students Day Nursery was established in October 1966 to meet a growing demand for child care from students and staff at the University of Manchester and UMIST (this was at a time when the postgraduate population was expanding rapidly). The initiative was largely led by the University Students Union, and the Nursery was the first full-time nursery specifically for students' children in the UK.

It was originally located at St David's Hall in Victoria Park (the church hall of St Chrysostom's Church), and catered for twenty children. The Nursery moved to a site owned by UMIST at 163 Oxford Road (the former Oxford Wine Bar) in April 1969. Originally the Nursery depended largely on Union grants, fees and fund-raising for support, but after lobbying, the University and UMIST also provided funds (as did Manchester Polytechnic and City of Manchester College ). By the mid-1970s, over thirty children were attending. The Nursery was originally managed by a committee of volunteers, but this was replaced by a joint University/UMIST committee in 1973.

In 1981, the Nursery moved to buildings at Medlock Infants School in Ardwick. In 1992, a new nursery, Echoes Day Nursery was opened at the UMIST campus. Currently the University has associations with the Echoes Day Nursery and Dryden Street Day Nursery.

The collection is open to any accredited reader.

The collection includes material which is subject to the Data Protection Act 1998. Under Section 33 of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA), The University of Manchester Library (UML) holds the right to process personal data for research purposes. The Data Protection (Processing of Sensitive Personal Data) Order 2000 enables the UML to process sensitive personal data for research purposes. In accordance with the DPA, UML has made every attempt to ensure that all personal and sensitive personal data has been processed fairly, lawfully and accurately. Users of the archive are expected to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998, and will be required to sign a form acknowledging that they will abide by the requirements of the Act in any further processing of the material by themselves.

The documents were donated to the Library in November 2015 by Mrs Susan Hartshorne, a former honorary secretary of the Nursery Committee.

Photocopies and photographic copies of material in the archive can be supplied for private study purposes only, depending on the condition of the documents.

A number of items within the archive remain within copyright under the terms of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988; it is the responsibility of users to obtain the copyright holder's permission for reproduction of copyright material for purposes other than research or private study.

Prior written permission must be obtained from the Library for publication or reproduction of any material within the archive. Please contact the Head of Special Collections, John Rylands Library, 150 Deansgate, Manchester, M3 3EH.

Collection has not been appraised.

Not expected, but possible.

The relationship between the Nursery and University authorities can be traced in the Vice-Chancellor's file VCA/7/965 and for UMIST, Principal's files TPA/1/44 and TPA/1/152.