University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections

@archives-unisurrey

We hold the University archive, collections related to the artist E H Shepard, the collections of the National Resource Centre for Dance and other Special Collections.

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University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· 5d

Some light holiday reading for that Italian trip! 📚 These are some of the Italian language books from our Thomas Farrer Library of rare books. They include different editions of Dante's "Divine Comedy", from pocket sized (for easy travelling?) to elaborate editions designed to impress. #rarebooks

A display of different sized old books, bound in cream and brown leather. Some of the books have gilt-edged pages.

A display of several old books, with one open to display the frontispiece of Dante Aligheri's 'Commedia' or 'Divine Comedy'. Included in this is an engraving of a man and a woman in long robes.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· 13d

Time to wield the glue gun! Some behind the scenes conservation work - preparing for our next session of cleaning and reboxing early student registration cards by making acid-free dividers. #archiveconservation #makingthings #studenthistory

A person using a hot glue gun to construct a cardboard divider.

A row of completed cardboard dividers on a black bacground.

The cardboard dividers in use - they are labelled alphabetically and placed in boxes to support the fragile cards and allow easier searching and indentification of the student cards.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jul 17

Anyone else going to see 'The Odyssey' this weekend? 📽️🧌 This is our 1857 edition of Chapman's 'Odyssey', owned by Victorian statesman Thomas Farrer. He clearly wasn't a fan of the Homeric epic as the pages remain uncut in the middle of Book 4...so he never read as far as Odysseus' entrance...⚔️⛵🏹

A 1857 edition of Chapman's 1614-1615 translation of 'The Odyssey'. The book has a dark reddish-brown cover and rests on a cushion. There are cotton ties holding the fragile spine in place, and a pair of hands are in shot, preparing to open the book.

The open book showing the decorative frontispiece of 'The Odyssey', with an engraving of Homer flanked by Athena and Odysseus (and his dog). A pair of hands are in shot, holding the book open.

The book is open in the middle of Book 4 of 'The Odyssey', but two of the pages is shown to be uncut at the top, implying that the book was not read beyond this point, and the reader never got to the point where Odysseus enters the story.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jul 14

We're looking at Architecture then and now and these are images of Senate House on our Stag Hill campus from the 1970s, and today. #EYAArchitecture

Black and white photograph of Senate House on Stag Hill campus of the University of Surrey, taken in the 1970s. In the centre of the image there is a tall clock tower attached to a 5-floor building; in front of this is an amphitheatre with grassy slopes and trees with other buildings laid out either side. People can be seen walking on the pathways.

A colour photo of Senate House on the University of Surrey's Stag Hill campus, taken on a sunny day with blue sky. The yellow brick clock tower is in the centre of the image, with the five storey building of Senate House to the right. In the foreground is the Student Hive with the amphitheatre and grassy slopes. The trees visible in the first image are much taller in this photo.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jul 9

A sight to strike fear in the heart of archivists: the rusty metal clip! Rust causes chemical damage to paper, leaving corrosion marks and making pages brittle. These examples are from a recent deposit to our collections; the clips will be carefully removed before repacking. #archiveconservation

A rusty paperclip attached to a series of papers. There are brown marks around the shape of the clip which has damaged the paper.

A pin holding together several pages. There is a brown mark on the paper surrounding the pin hole.

A rusty safety pin holding several pages of paper. This is possibly the worst offender - posing risks to both archivist and the archive material.
Our next steps will be to carefully remove them, replacing where needed with brass clips and storing in our climate controlled strongroom, to ensure that the information on these papers remain accessible for many years to come.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jun 16

It's Refugee Week and we're recognising the contributions and resilience of those displaced and seeking sanctuary. This painting is by E. H. Shepard, later illustrator of 'Winnie-the-Pooh', who drew this scene of Italian refugees while he was serving in Italy in 1917. #ehshepard #refugeeweek

A painting of three people with cart pulled by two white oxen. The people are dressed in black and brown and are walking hunched over; the cart is piled high with colourful blue and white checked blankets and other belongings. In the distance there are trees and a house.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jun 9

We're celebrating #EYAColourful items in the archive with this 2022 image of our Rainbow Crossing taken to celebrate LGBT History Month. The 2019 Crossing, the first of its kind in a UK university, represents the University of Surrey’s solidarity to its LGBT+ student and staff community. #pride

A colourful image of a group of people walking across a rainbow-striped pedestrian crossing, holding a large Pride flag between them.
There are trees and shrubs in the background.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jun 2

The highlight of an archivist's day - a delivery of lots of lovely new archive boxes 😍 #conservation #archivestore #boxes

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· May 28

It's (just) #EYAHandwriting month and as it's also a Thursday we're shamelessly including this as #TBT - our blog from a few years ago on handwriting in our archive collections: blogs.surrey.ac.uk/archives/202...

Two handwritten pages of a letter from Florence Shepard to her husband Ernest Shepard, written in 1904. There is a small sketch of a mouse in clothes on the bottom right of one page.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· May 6

This year is the 100th anniversary of the first publication of A. A. Milne's 'Winnie-the-Pooh', illustrated by Ernest Shepard. We've exploring the artistic origins of this iconic bear with a display on campus using items from our E. H. Shepard archives, so if you're on campus drop in for a look!

A view of a glass display case showing a black and white photograph of Ernest Shepard, illustrator of 'Winnie-the-Pooh', alongside some of his art materials and a reproduction of an early sketch of Piglet and Pooh. On the lower level are books and toys relating to 'Winnie-the-Pooh'.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Apr 21

Our collections include this copy of Thomas Bewick's 'The History of British Birds', first published in 1797 and namechecked by Charlotte Bronte in 'Jane Eyre'. Alongside the descriptions and images of birds are tiny, intricate vignettes: everyday scenes with flashes of humour or the macabre.

Entry for The Kingfisher, showing an engraving of the bird with detailed plumage, sitting on a stone at the water's edge. The description starts: 'This splendid little bird is of rather a clumsy shape, the head being large in proportion to the size of the body, and the legs and feet very small.'

An engraved scene showing a woman hanging out washing in a garden, with flowers and trees. Behind her, a procession of piglets and chickens have invaded the garden, walking muddy prints across washing that has fallen onto the grass.

A winged demonic figure crouches on a rock, watching a faraway crowd around a gallows. This tiny image is mentioned by Jane Eyre as she reads the book.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Apr 1

The archive rabbits are excited for the Easter holidays - and for our new display, which launches after the break! The Archives & Special Collections service will be closed from Thursday 2nd April, reopening on Thursday 9th. We wish all our students and researchers a lovely and relaxing break.

Two soft toy rabbits beside the window of the Archives research room.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 30

We’ve been getting crafty! Archive staff and volunteers have measured, cut, folded and tied new boxes for 27 of E.H. Shepard’s sketchbooks. It’s hard work, but it’s so satisfying to see them neatly repackaged and safe in their little custom-made jackets. 27 down, 42 to go…

Eleven sketchbooks with black covers laid out on tissue paper on a long table in the research room.

Archive staff folding acid-free card to create enclosures for the sketchbooks.

A number of sketchbooks in their shiny new acid-free card enclosures, ready to be tied up with cotton tape.

A satisfyingly neat box of sketchbooks safely stored in their new archive-friendly enclosures.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 24

Another call for the hive-mind of Bluesky! Can any paleography experts identify the occupation of Susannah Cowell, shown here on her student registration card? She was a student at Battersea Polytechnic in 1927, taking a course in Laundry Work. #archives #educationhistory #trickyhandwriting

A yellow record card from Battersea Polytechnic, showing information about Susannah Cowell, who undertook a course of practical Laundry Work in 1927. The card shows details such as her education, marital status and the hours she attended (all of them!)

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 18

We love making connections between collections, so here are items from the E. H. Shepard archive relating to his work on an abridged edition of James Boswell's 'Life of Johnson', together with an 1822 edition of the original from our Thomas Farrer library of rare books. #archives #books #boswell

Cover of 'Everybody's Boswell', an abridged edition of James Boswell's life of Samuel Johnson, published in 1930. The cover illustration shows Boswell and Johnson conversing as they walk through London's streets.

A group of archive materials, including annotated notes relating to Shepard's work on the illustrations for 'Everybody's Boswell', his small pocket diary of a trip he made to Scotland to follow in Boswell and Johnson's footsteps, and a copy of the abridged edition of the book.

A 1822 copy of 'The Life of Samuel Johnson' by James Boswell, open at the title page and showing an illustration of Johnson. The book was in the library of Thomas Farrer, who lived outside Guildford in the nineteenth century.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 8

On #InternationalWomensDay we've been discovering traces of women in our collections who fought for equality. Lilian Lenton appears in our Dalcroze Society archives, but was also a prominent suffragette. Read our blog post here: blogs.surrey.ac.uk/archives/ #suffragettes #IWD

Black and white photograph of a group of nine women in a narrow passageway. Some are sitting on window sills and one is perched on the lower rung of a ladder. They are dressed in tunics and dresses. One woman, thought to be the former suffragette Lilian Lenton, is partially hidden by the woman on the ladder.

White fabric, embroidered with the signature of Lilian Lenton.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 5

It's #WorldBookDay so please enjoy these amazing illustrations by Wilhelm von Kaulbach for Johannes von Goethe's "Reineke Fuchs", or Reynard the Fox, who was a well-known figure in medieval fables. This book is from our Thomas Farrer Library collection of rare books. Ref. TF/1231

Page showing a black and white illustration of a group of anthropomorphic animals and birds, including a lion dressed as a king and a goat dressed as a bishop. The scene is one of drama, with several animals weeping, praying or holding their paws/ wings aloft in supplication.

A close up of a black and white illustration showing a scowling lion dressed in a robe, a praying tiger in clerical robes, a worried dog and a fox with its arm around a distressed-looking rat.

A close up of a black and white illustration showing two moles with shovels. talking to each other, while gesturing at events beyond them. They appear serious, but not overly concerned.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Mar 3

It's #worldwildlifeday and here are a group of beautiful coots, drawn by illustrator E. H. Shepard. Shepard, best known for his illustrations for 'Winnie-the-Pooh', often made studies of wildlife in his sketchbooks. Ref. ST/SB/7, (c) The Shepard Trust #coots #ehshepard #eyawildlife

A sepia coloured page with two adult coots, one standing and one floating on the water. A coot chick is running towards the floating adult with its tiny wings flapping and beak open. Its parent is calm and sedate, floating on the water.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Feb 25

We were delighted to support the Lunch & Learn event on campus, discovering Guildford’s Queer History 🏳️‍🌈 Using material from our University and Student Union archives, we put together a display exploring the traces left by the LGBT+ student community and their allies. #lgbt #lgbthistorymonth

A group of people looking at the contents of archive display cases on a table.

A colourful mixture of pamphlets, photographs and ephemera relating to LGBT+ life at the University of Surrey.

A mixture of historic material consisting of student handbooks and excerpts from student newspapers from the University of Surrey.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Feb 11

Celebrating all the women and girls around the world today who study, teach and pioneer in the sciences, and especially here at @uniofsurrey.bsky.social. ⚛️🔬 #WomeninScience #GirlsinSTEM

A black and white photograph of a woman in a white lab coat who is making notes on a clipboard. She is in a laboratory setting, surrounded by machines.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Feb 3

🚨New archive display on campus!!🚨 We're celebrating the life and career of dancer, choreographer and pioneering movement director Geraldine Stephenson (1925-2017). From Doctor Who to War & Peace, she worked on a huge variety of productions 📺🎬💃 🔍Find us on the Ground Floor of the Library.

A display of archive items including large black and white photographs of a woman dancing, and on the shelf beneath, notepaper with writing and a colour diagram.

Archive items on display, including a colour diagram showing a person in different poses and black and white photographs of two people in historical costumes.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jan 27

On #holocaustmemorialday, we're sharing the Ephraim and Neumayer collection. Vera Ephraim was a Dalcroze Eurhythmics teacher and her husband Hans Neumayer was a blind musician and teacher. Both Germans of Jewish ancestry, they were killed in the Holocaust.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jan 20

Behind the scenes project work: demounting and repackaging original artwork from the Shepard Trust collection of art by illustrator E. H. Shepard. #archiveconservation #ehshepard #archives

Two people sit at a table in an archive research room, carefully removing pencil sketches from cardboard mounts.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jan 16

We’re excited to work with Dalcroze UK and The Song School on a National Lottery #HeritageFund project to engage audiences and explore the future potential of the Dalcroze Archive at Surrey, with thanks to #NationalLottery Players. #Dalcroze #Archives

Two people stand at a desk in an archive research room, looking at drawings, posters and ephemera relating to the work of Dalcroze.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Jan 13

Good luck to all our students currently sitting their exams! ☘️ For light relief, here's a spoof exam paper from the student publication The Battersea College of Technology Magazine 1964 - feel free to attempt answers to any of these in the comments! 🍿

A page from a 1964 mock exam paper. Instructions include that candidates should write only on one side of the paper at once, and that silence should be observed at all times to avoid disturbing the invigilators. Questions include proving by differential calculus and Leibnitz Theorem that the collected works of Dickens were written by Anne Hathaway. Good luck, folks!

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Dec 23

It may not be snowing but we're feeling very Christmassy when looking back at this 1987 campus photo ❄ So we'll take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy Christmas season! 🎅 Archives & Special Collections will be closed from today until 5 January -see you in 2026! ©University of Surrey

A colour photo showing several people in winter clothes walking away from the camera towards a group of modern university buildings. There is thick snow on the ground and it looks very cold. US/PH/1/2/390

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Dec 15

Today is the 146th birthday of Rudolf Laban, born #OTD in 1879. 🎉 Laban was one of the most prominent movement theorists of the 20th Century, influencing dancers, actors and choreographers. This image shows him on his birthday in 1955 at the Art of Movement Studio, Addlestone. Ref. L/F/3/70

A black-and-white photograph of an older man with a white moustache walking through two lines of happy, clapping people. He's smartly dressed, in a suit and tie. The setting is a winter garden, with trees, shrubs and a rose trellis overhead.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Dec 7

We've been delighted to work with a group of post-graduate English students who have been conserving student registration cards from our predecessor institution Battersea Polytechnic. It's been fascinating to uncover some of the stories of these students from our history. 🙂 #EYAYourArchive

A group of people are shown sitting at a large table in a reading room. They are cleaning yellow registration cards using dry sponges.

Some yellow registration cards. The top one gives details of Miss Mary Clarke, a clerk studying for her matriculation in Inorganic Chemistry, Biology and French in 1935.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Dec 5

We hold over 100 dance collections, including the Betty Meredith-Jones archive. She was a dance and movement education practitioner who worked with many different groups, including children, people with Parkinsons and the elderly. #EYAInclusion

A group of older women stand in a circle, facing each other with their arms raised. There are chairs behind them, as if they've just stood up, and the room is lit by light coming in from large windows at the far end.

University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections@archives-unisurrey· Dec 4

Our #ExploreYourArchive theme today is Digital! Here's our archivist Simon working on the digital records in the daCi Archive; just like paper archives, digital archives require careful management to preserve them. Read Simon's #WorldDigitalPreservationDay blog via our website. #EYADigital