Living Letters
This exhibition runs from Thursday 12 October until Sunday 3 March 2024, at the Weston Gallery, Lakeside Arts.
For centuries letters have been key vehicles of human communication. This exhibition explores correspondence from the medieval period to the present and celebrates the letter’s enduring importance. It examines letters’ capacity to chronicle all stages and aspects of human life - from birth to death - and to capture both the personal and the professional. It reveals how they are powerful in their abilities to connect with and impact on the lives of others. It illuminates how letters are also deeply vulnerable, fragile objects whose preservation is liable to the vicissitudes of time, fashion, and chance.
This exhibition has been jointly curated by University of Nottingham Libraries, Manuscripts and Special Collections, and Professor Lynda Pratt, School of English, University of Nottingham.
Exhibition themes
Six exhibition boards are on display in the Gallery. Two of the boards can be downloaded or viewed online as Adobe PDFs.
Further Research
Items from our collections are available to consult in the Manuscripts and Special Collections reading room on King's Meadow Campus.
Links to our catalogues, and specific collections relating to letters featuring in the exhibition can be found below.
Films: Watch our series of films on the theme of 'Living Letters'
Curator Professor Lynda Pratt introduces the 'Living Letters' exhibition
Mrs Fanny Ellerby of Fledborough: estate correspondence concerning a broken porch
From the blog
Read our blogs and Discover newsletter articles about items featured in the Living Letters exhibition.
Connie Ford
An introduction to the extensive correspondence of Connie Ford, Nottingham veterinarian, poet, sailor and political activist.
Go to blog post
Effie Ruskin and Lady Eastlake
Evidence in the archives of the scandal associated with the annulment of the marriage of Euphemia Gray and art critic John Ruskin.
Go to blog post
Beeton knows best
Letter-writing advice in Samuel Beeton's Complete letter writer for ladies and gentlemen.
Go to article, on pages 6-7
Events
Programme of talks and events coming up at the Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts. Please book through www.lakesidearts.org.uk or call 0115 846 7777
Recordings of some of the talks will be available after the exhibition closes.
Lunchtime Talks
Confessions of a romantic letter hunter
Thursday 19 October, 1-2pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts
The controversial Poet Laureate Robert Southey (1774-1843) was a contemporary of Jane Austen and an antagonist of Lord Byron. Professor Lynda Pratt shares her experiences of working on the first-ever edition of Southey’s Collected Letters, including the challenges of: editing 7,500 letters, identifying ‘lost’ correspondents,
and writing footnotes covering a vast range of subjects.
Ten years of the Letters Page
Wednesday 22 November, 1-2pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts
The Letters Page is a literary journal in letters, with all submissions sent in as handwritten letters by post. Join its editor, Professor Jon McGregor, for a look at some of the letters received from across the world since launching in 2013, and for a reflection on the place of letter writing in the twenty-first century..
Creativity, craft and correspondence: letters as art
Tuesday 16 January 2024, 1-2pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts
Dr Charlotte May will draw on correspondence held in the University’s Department of Manuscript and Special Collections to demonstrate how letters have long provided a space for artistic expression.
Letters and laughs: humour in literary correspondence
Thursday 29 February 2024, 1-2pm
Djanogly Theatre, Lakeside Arts
Amy Wilcockson will draw on letters by Edward Lear, Jane Austen, and Thomas Campbell to discuss how – and why – they use comedy, nonsense, and the absurd. She will explore how such attempts to create camaraderie, advance social status, and deal with difficult situations, provide an intimate insight into the lives of all three authors.
Other events
Guided tours of the Living Letters exhibition
Wednesday 22 November
Tuesday 16 January 2024
11am-12noon
Weston Gallery
Join us for a guided walk through the exhibition and learn about the stories behind the items on display.
Free, advance booking required. Please book through www.lakesidearts.org.uk or call 0115 846 7777
Letter handling sessions
Tuesday 7 November, 10-11.30am
Thursday 8 February 2024, 1.30-3pm
Bentinck Room, King’s Meadow Campus
Join the University’s Manuscript and Special Collections team to explore a selection of manuscript letters not on display in the Living Letters exhibition.
Free, advance booking required. Please book by emailing mss-library@nottingham.ac.uk or call 0115 951 4565.
Get the latest updates
Follow Manuscripts and Special Collections Exhibitions on twitter @msslakeside to keep up to date with the latest exhibition news.