Special Collections & Archives

Special Collections & Archives look after over 150 archival collections, many of which are of local, national and international interest. Please see this introduction video to find out more; the Special Collections & Archives blog is also regularly updated with in-depth pieces and news.

For postgraduates, Special Collections & Archives also runs a session through the Graduate School Skills Training scheme twice a year.

Collections of particular relevance to history students include:

• The British Cartoon Archive holds works by over 300 artists with a particular focus on social and political cartooning from the 19^th century up to the present day; new material is added to the online catalogue Over 300,000 artworks held in the archive can be viewed for free online and there is also an extensive library of cartooning publications, details of which can be found through LibrarySearch.
  • The archive of 20^th century cartoonist Carl Giles is one of the largest collections within the British Cartoon Archive. Alongside thousands of artworks the archive contains extensive research files on many contemporary topics and correspondence which includes Giles’ time working for the Ministry of Information during the Second World War.
• The Theatre collections are a great source of primary material from the 19^th and 20^th centuries, particularly for social and cultural historians.
• The Local History collection contains a variety of books and maps on Kent from the 18^th and 19^th
• The papers of former House of Commons Speaker and MP Bernard Weatherill are a great resource for political historians.
• The archives and library of Reverend Hewlett Johnson, Dean of Canterbury Cathedral from 1931 – 1963. Johnson was an ardent Socialist; his papers extensively document his views, activities and support of communism during the Cold War era.
• Records, periodicals and books of the Queen’s Own Buffs, the Royal Kent Regiment from the 18^th – 21^st centuries – useful for military historians.
• Contemporary history is well represented in the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive which charts the development of alternative and stand-up comedy from the 1980s to the present day.
• The Pre-1700s collection contains several hundred books and primarily focuses on literature and sermons. Highlights include a second edition of Holinshed’s Chronicles (on loan from the Marlowe Society), a first edition of the works of Benjamin Johnson, a 1598 edition of Chaucer’s works and many religious texts.
  • A video of The Complete Works of Geoffrey Chaucer (1598) can be found here.
• The library of Dr R.E.W Maddison focuses on the history of science from the 15^th – 20^th The collection contains the Library’s only incunabula and is a fantastic resource in charting the development of natural philosophy (particularly chemistry and physics) into the three distinct disciplines of today. The Theatre collections support research into interpretation of medieval and early modern literature and performance since their inception; the collections are particularly strong on 19^th century adaptation and drama.
• The library of scholar John Crow, who focused on Renaissance literature and ballad and song. Many of Crow’s early modern texts are part of the Pre-1700s collection mentioned above, but Crow’s library also contains an extensive number of early modern play facsimiles, books on Shakespeare and ballad and song texts.
• Special Collections & Archives works very closely with Canterbury Cathedral Archives and Library to offer teaching, events and collaboration that spans both institutions’ collections.

The Special Collections & Archives reading room is in Block A, Floor 1 of the Templeman Library near the Templeman Gallery. You need to request material in advance and make an appointment to view it. The team also supports a range of education and engagement activities and are always keen to collaborate with history students and staff. If you have any questions or want to talk about all things archives, do get in touch via email.