Overview of literary archive and manuscript holdings in UK and Irish institutions
GLAM’s initial project was a major survey relating to the collecting of literary archives and manuscripts in Britain and Ireland, including the following components and aims:
- To gather details of collecting policies relating to literary archives and manuscripts from different institutions, with the aim of investigating the feasibility of producing national collecting strategies for Britain and Ireland, and identifying significant gaps in collecting.
- To gather information on significant literary archives and manuscripts acquired by institutions during the previous 5 years, in order to: identify patterns in current collecting; draw conclusions about the relative importance of gifts, deposits and purchases to the development of collections; and highlight problems which have occurred in attempting to acquire.
The survey report is now available to download here. [PDF]
See the Survey page for an overview of each participating institution’s literary holdings.
The information provided here is based on responses to a question in the GLAM survey of 2006-7 which asked respondents to provide a headline statement describing the quality, size and significance of their institution’s literary archives and manuscript collections in 100 words or less. It therefore offers a high level overview of literary holdings in a range of repositories across the UK and Ireland, including national archives and libraries, universities, museums, author centres, and one or two local authority archives. It is hoped that this resource will be augmented over time in order to build up a comprehensive picture of the range and diversity of literary collections in the UK and Ireland, covering a wide chronological range and a wealth of literary periods. Institutions not covered by the survey are invited to contribute comparable statements about their literary collections.
Please contact David Sutton in the first instance: d.c.sutton@reading.ac.uk.
Survey Results
England
East of England
- Cambridge University Library, Department of Manuscripts
- Christ’s College Library, University of Cambridge
- Churchill Archives Centre, University of Cambridge
- Girton College Library and Archive, University of Cambridge
- Jesus College Archives, University of Cambridge
- King’s College Archive Centre, University of Cambridge
- Lucy Cavendish College Archive, University of Cambridge
- Magdalene College, Old Library, University of Cambridge
- Murray Edwards College Archives, University of Cambridge
- Queens’ College Library, University of Cambridge
- St John’s College, University of Cambridge
- University of East Anglia Library, Norwich
East Midlands
- University of Leicester Library
- University of Nottingham, Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections
- Tennyson Research Centre, Lincoln
London
- British Library, English and Drama Department
- City of London, Keats House
- Dulwich College Archives
- Faber and Faber Archive
- Imperial War Museum, Department of Documents
- King’s College London, College Archives
- Kipling Library
North East
North West
- Lancaster University, Ruskin Library and Research Centre
- University of Liverpool Library
- University of Manchester, John Rylands University Library
South East
- BBC Written Archives Centre, Reading
- Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
- King’s School Library, Canterbury
- Magdalen College Archives, University of Oxford
- Somerville College Library, University of Oxford
- University of Sussex Library, Brighton
- University of Southampton Library
- University College, University of Oxford
South West
- University of Bristol Library and Theatre Archive
- University of Exeter Library
- Gloucestershire Archives
West Midlands
- Keele University Library, Special Collections and Archives
- University of Warwick Modern Records Centre
Yorkshire
- University of Bradford Library
- Hull University Archives
- University of Leeds, Brotherton Library Special Collections
- University of Sheffield Library
- University of York, Borthwick Institute for Archives
Northern Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Scotland
- University of Aberdeen Library
- University of Glasgow
- National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh
- University of St Andrews Library
Wales