Similar to The National Archives and Archives and Records Association's Explore Your Archive Awareness Week, ARA-Scotland's #Archive30 is a key social media event in our calendar that takes place annually in April. With a dedicated theme for each day, it’s a chance to share a variety of documents, photographs, artefacts and more from across our collections: hopefully sparking interest in our audiences with an archival April shower! This year, in celebration of DMU’s 155th anniversary, we showcased materials from a wide range of DMU collections for each theme, covering everything from the institution's origins and evolution to staff, students, campus, and more. Just in case you need a referesher, here's a link to all our socials:
Instagram: @DMUSpecialCollections
Bluesky: @DMUSpecialcolls.bsky.social
Facebook: @DMUHeritage
Threads: @dmuspecialcollections
Below, we share the list of themes and the items we chose, with links to our catalogue and online exhibitions where relevant, as well as our final Day 30 reel: #WhyArchives? And to answer that question: because preserving DMU’s history not only allows us to appreciate and learn from our heritage today but also ensures future generations can discover it too!
| 1st | #YourArchive | Celebrating DMU at 155 | ||
| 2nd | #ArchiveBeginnings | Foundation of DMU in 1870 - link to article | ||
| 3rd | #SoundAndVision | DMU's Trials of Life video, 1993 | ||
| 4th | #ArchiveConservation | Our extensive DMU Press Cuttings, 1901-present | ||
| 5th | #BusinessArchives | Business Management Class Photograph, 1970 | ||
| 6th | #ColourfulArchives | Jerzy Karo article in press cuttings | ||
| 7th | #ArchivesToday | DMU Special Collections archivists at work | ||
| 8th | #ArchivePlan | Architectural Drawings by A. F. Bryan a former DMU student c 1905. | ||
| 9th | #SomethingBig | Becoming DMU in 1992 | ||
| 10th | #ArchiveAnimals | DMU School of Agriculture prospectus, 2001. | ||
| 11th | #HiddenHistories | History of Disability Services at DMU online exhibition. | ||
| 12th | #ArchiveFashion | History of DMU Fashion courses, 1880s - Present | ||
| 13th | #ArchiveTechnology | Leicester Polytechnic STEM courses flyer, c 1990. | ||
| 14th | #UnusualArchives | Metal fixtures designed by Ernest Gimson, former student, c 1880s. | ||
| 15th | #ArchiveFoodAndDrink | DMU and Predecessors Gift Book, 1922-1938. | ||
| 16th | #SomethingSmall | RAG badge, c 1980s. | ||
| 17th | #MiniMilestones | Committee Minutes, 1924 highlighting one of the 19 name changes before becoming DMU. | ||
| 18th | #ArchiveAdvice | Student Guide books, 1938-2012 | ||
| 19th | #ArchiveTravel | Collection of Iona Cruickshank, former DMU alumna and Head of Department | ||
| 20th | #FunAndGames | Gig tickets from the Papers of Sean Clarke, former Dmu alumnusc 1990s. | ||
| 21st | #ArchiveMyths | Printing Trades publication examples, Celtic Legends, 1935 and The Garden of Proserpine, 1961. | ||
| 22nd | #ArchiveAction | Student Activism through the decades, raising awareness about equality, grants, fees, climate disaster, and more. | ||
| 23rd | #CommunityArchives | DMU Communities: campus, city national and international | ||
| 24th | #PopularItem | Our top 3 collections according to catalogue hits: 1. Estates and Buildings of DMU | 2. Designs by Ernest Gimson | 3. Papers of DMU Nursing and Midwifery |
| 25th | #SomethingNew | Drawing by Cyril Hurd, former alumnus and tutor, c 1910s | ||
| 26th | #ArchiveObject | A manual punch for creating computer code, c 1950s. | ||
| 27th | #ArchiveNightmares | Study support guides for combating assignment and exam nightmares, 1970s-present | ||
| 28th | #ArchiveBuildings | DMU campus, 1896-Present | ||
| 29th | #ArchiveCollection | Sharing our collections via the reading room and our catalogue. | ||
| 30th | #WhyArchives | To preserve the fascinating history of this institution! |
Phew! What a run down. If you would like to view any of the materials, just drop us an email or contact us via our socials. We hope you join us for #Archive30 next year. Who knows what the theme might be...
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