Libraries, Archives and Special Collections
At all levels, from year one BA to PhD, our students are encouraged both to study rare, unusual or ancient texts and to take them ‘out of the box,’ so as to re-configure or re-imagine them in ways that (re)introduce them to wholly new audiences.
The University Library
The University’s award-winning Library is a member of Research Libraries UK, a consortium of the most significant research libraries in the Britain and Ireland. It holds hundreds of thousands of print and online books, as well as over 400 specialist databases, providing access to a vast range of primary source materials, academic journals, and other resources.
In addition, the Library houses over 30 unique collections including over 15,000 rare books and thousands of original documents. These include items dating back to the 13th century, including many works of enormous literary significance, such as a pocket vulgate Bible from the 13th century, an early hand-annotated edition of Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene, a 1583 edition of John Fox’s Book of Martyrs, and serial issues of Charles Dickens’ Bleak House (1853).
The Jerwood Centre
This state-of-the-art library is part of the Wordsworth Grasmere, in the Lakes, and holds over 90% of William Wordsworth’s original verse manuscripts, as well as Dorothy Wordsworth’s Grasmere Journal, and many other priceless items from the Romantic era. All students in the Department have all-year-round free access to all parts of the Wordsworth Grasmere (Jerwood Centre, Dove Cottage, Museum, Gardens) as well as the exclusive opportunity to compete for one of four residential internships offered each year. It takes an hour to drive to Grasmere or two hours by bus.
The Ruskin Museum
This beautiful on-campus museum houses the Ruskin Whitehouse Collection which is the world’s largest collection of materials relating to the great Victorian man of letters, John Ruskin, and contains thousands of paintings, drawings, books, manuscripts, prints, and photographs. The Museum is currently closed but will reopen in 2025.
The Peter Scott Gallery
This intimate on-campus gallery houses the University’s art collection, which includes early European prints, such as 16th century engravings by Albrecht Dürer, later European work by such as Matisse, Miró, Ernst, Picasso, and Lowry, as well as prints and paintings by Japanese and Chinese artists, African wood-cut prints, and examples of Indian and Inuit art.
