HLF project: Wollaton Library Collection
Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) award to conserve, catalogue and provide access to the remains of the Wollaton Library Collection at The University of Nottingham
Access to the ten medieval manuscripts and 42 printed books had been limited both because of their fragile condition and the specialist nature of the manuscripts. The volumes include texts in Middle English, Old French and Anglo-Norman French as well as Latin. The scope of the project was as follows:
Conservation and Preservation
All of the medieval manuscripts show evidence of use and damage over the centuries. Two had already been conserved, but the others all were, to varying degrees, in fragile condition. As physical artefacts they are of considerable interest. Several provide examples of intact original medieval bindings while others, in their decayed state, show the evidence of original binding structures. The project did not undertake extensive repairs or restoration but aimed to stabilise the condition of the manuscripts and provide sufficient protection for their future security and occasional handling.
Cataloguing and Description
With the exception of the fragment from the life of St Zita (WLC/LM/37), the manuscripts have been known to researchers since their description by W.H. Stevenson in 1911, Report of the Manuscripts of Lord Middleton Preserved at Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire (Historical Manuscripts Commission). Their catalogue descriptions were very brief, but were extended in the course of the project. Full descriptions of the ephemeral papers in the collection, dated 1738-c.1912 (WLC/X), were also added to the online catalogue for the first time.
Full bibliographic records for the published works from the Wollaton Library Collection (WLC/P) were made available on the University of Nottingham Library Online Catalogue (UNLOC). Search for 'Wollaton Library Collection' to browse the collection.
Creation of surrogate copies of the manuscripts
The international interest which these important manuscripts attract and their fragile condition made it a priority that high quality surrogate images were available to satisfy most first level enquiries.
The project included the planned digitisation of the key texts, but did not include the online delivery of entire texts. Security microfilm was also created, for long-term preservation and to meet research demand.
The creation of web resources
The project aimed to raise awareness of the contents of the Collection and the significance of the texts by the delivery of a web resource on the theme of medieval women, drawing primarily on stories from the literary manuscripts. The Wives, Widows and Wimples web resource went live in April 2010. For each topic, brief extracts were provided as images from the original manuscripts, with transcriptions, translation and appropriate supporting material. There are also three online skills packages to assist readers in understanding the medieval heritage and interpreting the material: Medieval Books, Reading and Understanding Medieval Documents, and Caring for the Collections.
Display and publication
In 2010 an exhibition in the University's Weston Gallery (D H Lawrence Pavilion, Lakeside Arts) featured items from the Collection and related material. A leaflet publication and a series of talks also drew attention to the Collection and demonstrated its significance for heritage of the East Midlands.
Related AHRC project
The Wollaton Medieval Manuscripts research project, led by Professor Thorlac Turville-Petre of the School of English Studies, and funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) ran at the same time as the HLF project. The results enhanced the HLF project's outcomes.
Next project: Woodward Collection