New Archives Research Centre opens doors to all at Lancaster University Library

Supported by Research Culture Funding from Research England, The Archives Research Centre (ARC), housed in Lancaster University’s Library, is a new space designed to be a single contact point for researchers wanting to access the library and archive collections assembled by Lancaster University since 1963.

Special collections – more than 40 in total – include books and papers which have come from around the world and in most cases, have been donated by Lancastrians, organisations and academics.

These include the Satterthwaite Letter Books (1737 to 1782), a hard copy and fully digitised collection, detailing the lives of a Lancastrian father and son working in Barbados in their letters to family and friends at home.

Other special compilations include Socialist Party pamphlets from the 1880s to 1997, Second World War pamphlets detailing a unique social history linked to the Home Front, and a fascinating collection (the Austin, Paley & Langshaw Collection) which features recently discovered letters from the Cranford novelist Elizabeth Gaskell, and Lancaster-born palaeontologist Sir Richard Owen, who coined the word dinosaur.

The university also acts as a custodian for various collections of rare books including the Cartmel Library and Beetham Vestry Library.

The university’s research project, Cinema Culture in 1930s’ Britain (CCINTB), an oral digitised history of cinema memories, will also be housed in the new space.

The earliest item is a fragment of a 13th Century Bible but most items date from the 1500s onwards with most of those being 19th and 20th Century.

The university’s own collection of historical documents from the planning stages in the early 1960s to the present day is also available for viewing. This collection will now be known as the Marion McClintock University Archive in recognition of the work by the University’s current Honorary Archivist Marion McClintock, who was Academic Registrar from 1994 to 2006.

Director of Library Services Andrew Barker said: “It is appropriate that we open our wonderful new Archives Research Centre by also celebrating the great work that Marion McClintock has done to collect and curate our University Archive over many years by naming the University Archives in honour of her work and her ongoing dedication to this university’s story.”

The new space, freely available for teaching groups and community organisations, will enable the library to use the collections to their full potential and expand their activities and widen participation in line with the library’s vision to be an accessible space for all with both remote and on-site access.

A new special piece of camera equipment will also allow document viewing from all over the world so interested parties can get a ‘flavour’ of a collection ahead of any research.

The University’s Special Collections and Archives Manager, Katie Waring, said: “I’m a great believer that archives are for everyone and we will use the ARC to address the misconception that heritage collections can only be used for historical research.

“ARC will be open to individuals and groups to interact with our collections as well as the wider community in the local area and beyond.”

The University’s Honorary University Archivist, Marion McClintock, added: “The most exciting aspect of the new space is being able to offer visitors high-quality working conditions, combined with ready access to the materials they need, when they are consulting the archive.”

The new centre will be open on a drop-in basis every Wednesday from 11am to 4pm when staff will be on hand to assist with enquiries and the collections will be available for viewing. Alternatively, please book an appointment via [email protected]