One of the frustrating things about lockdowns, self-isolating and restrictions is not being able to get to libraries and archives close to home. To celebrate History Day 2020, Michelle Crowther looks at some of the freely available online collections of Kent history and recommends some of her favourites.
Category: Archives & Special Collections
‘The Music of the Spheres’: Anna, Nils, and their new worlds
This post was written for History Day 2020, part of the Being Human Festival 2020: New Worlds.
Three seemingly ‘ordinary’ early-20th century music scores. But behind their ordinariness lies a tale of love and loss to rival even the most dramatic Victorian fiction. I found the scores in our collection over a period of time, firstly through cataloguing, then actively looking to see if there were any others. What is special about them is that they belonged Anna Charlier, later Anna Hawtrey after her marriage. But who was she?
What the Dickens! An exploration of nineteenth century periodicals
The University subscribes to two fantastic databases of nineteenth century periodicals. In this blog post Michelle Crowther describes what is important about the collections and how you can use them in your research.
Volunteering in the University Archives: a Sensational Adventure!
On my first day volunteering at Canterbury Christ Church University’s archive, more specifically working on the Braddon collection, I came across a letter dating from the 1960s from history professor Robert Lee Wolff to Henry Maxwell.
Visiting the Cathedral Library
When Fawn Todd, Canterbury Cathedral Librarian invited CCCU library staff to visit the Cathedral Library we jumped at the chance. Read Fawn, Jack, Jodie and Michelle’s story here.
Special Collections and Archives
The University’s archives and special collections are held in Augustine House. Nineteenth century literature is a particular strength with literary gems such as the Mary Braddon Archive, the Sarah Grand Collection, the Gaskell Collection and the Historical Children’s Fiction Collection.