Special Collections Blog: Special Collections Blog

Explore Your Archive Round-Up

25th November  - 3rd December 2023 was #ExploreYourArchive focus week. How quickly that came round again!

For a bit of background info, the organisers of this annual national event, the Archives and Records Association UK and Ireland (ARA) @ARAUK_IE, encourages all archival repositories to join in with their focus week, sharing histories, heritage and treasures, and, most importantly, raising awareness that archives are for everyone. Each year, ARA publishes its themes for each day of the focus week, providing an interesting challenge to staff to think about what we have in our collections that we would like to share.

In this round-up blog post, you can watch our video shorts which hit social media on the day of the relevant themed hashtag at your leisure. Click on the links to find out more about each collection on our catalogue. Enjoy!

3rd Dec | #EYAYourArchive | 'This is your archive, your history. We hope to see you soon' Special Collections Manager, Katharine & team welcome you to #ExploreYourArchive with us in DMU Special Collections. 

2nd Dec | #EYAChallenge | 'with feats of endurance, speed, strength & wit.' Explore our sports history collections with Katharine.

1st Dec | #EYAHobbies | From teacher training at one of De Montfort University's predecessors 1940s style to the golden age of Hollywood. Some beautifully crafted scrapbooks chosen by Natalie.

30th Nov | #EYAArt | "...beyond beautiful and reflecting the energy of the universe." Our DMU Frontrunner, Wiktoria, highlights artist Andrew Logan's 'Black Icarus'.

29th Nov | #EYAUnique | 'a pioneer of punk.' Natalie highlights the collection of legendary fashion designer, Dame Zandra Rhodes.

28th Nov | #EYASmall | David explores the teeny and 'bizarre' of the fairy tale world for with this 11 cm small/tall book illustrated by David Hockney, 1970.

27th Nov | EYABig | 'Without scrambling for an idea, he hatched...' For a most pun-tastic video enjoy Marina's choice, artist Andrew Logan's 'Cosmic Egg'.

26th Nov | #EYAExpedition | 'Grab your skis and your map...' for day 2 with the Ski Club of Great Britain Collection chosen by David. 

25th Nov | #EYATradition | Marina chose Good Housekeeping Magazine: 'A fab resource for ads, short stories and baking, our historical Good Housekeeping runs also contain 'traditional ideas we really should just close the book on'