D H Lawrence
Heritage Lottery Fund award (2000-2002) for cataloguing and conservation
The University's D H Lawrence collections form one of the major international research resources for the study of D H Lawrence (1885-1930). They have been built up over sixty years, and reflect the strong association between the writer and his Nottinghamshire roots.
The entire resource is managed as two separate but linked collections, one being primarily of manuscript and original materials and the other of printed and published works. The collections include literary manuscripts, original correspondence, artistic works, photographs, biographical and associated materials as well as editions of literary texts and modern critical and biographical literature about Lawrence and his circle.
Cataloguing and conservation began with the first manuscript accessions to the Lawrence Collections in the 1950s. As the collections grew, successive typescript catalogues were published. In the mid-1990s, a major review of the holdings resulted in changes to the reference system, and work began on the computerisation of all former catalogues and the creation of records for newly acquired material.
By 1997 a basic database catalogue was available in the Reading Room. The acquisition of the George Lazarus library of D H Lawrence materials brought the need for a major new cataloguing initiative. At the same time, it was agreed that the original database should be made more accessible, by greater detail of description and through web delivery. The physical needs of the holdings, on fragile 20th-century paper, also required attention.
Cataloguing
A generous award from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2000 supported the full cataloguing of both the manuscript and printed collections over a two-year period. The award enabled greater public access to the holdings, through the online delivery of catalogue records for both the printed and manuscript sources, and attention to the conservation and preservation priorities. This programme was completed in June 2002. The work it began has been sustained and developed through further outreach programmes, including exhibitions, a video/DVD and new web resources.
For the manuscripts, the work included not only the upgrading of the earlier descriptions, and the cataloguing of recently acquired materials, but also provision of descriptions for related collections. Descriptions of material in the D H Lawrence Collection now appear in the Manuscripts Online Catalogue, where they can be searched alongside other archival holdings in Manuscripts and Special Collections.
Catalogue records for the published materials are available through the library online catalogue.
Further information about these resources and access to them is provided online from the D H Lawrence Resources web pages.
Conservation
In the course of the Heritage Lottery Fund project, preservation issues in both the manuscript and printed series were tackled. This involved some repair of damaged items and an extensive programme of protective packaging and boxing measures. In addition, surrogates have been created, to support greater levels of access while limiting use of the originals.
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