Research Collections
Research Collections
The University Library is developing Research Collections in areas of current and planned research within the University of Worcester, UK. To date, the Collections comprise historical children’s literature with an emphasis on adventure stories, contemporary multicultural children's literature, personal writing about childhood experience, and the Archive of the Kays mail order company which was based in Worcester, UK between 1890 and 2007.In addition the Collections include a small number of nineteenth and early twentieth-century items in German.
Location of the Research Collections:
Bredon 27 and 29, University of Worcester, Henwick Grove, Worcester, WR2 6AJ, UK
Access and use:
Please contact the Research Librarians to arrange an appointment
Dr Rachel Johnson MA MCLIP
Email r.johnson@worc.ac.uk
Tel 01905 542093
Ann Craig BLib MSc MCLIP
Email a.craig@worc.ac.uk
Tel 01905 855538
Janet Davidson BSc MCLIP
Email j.davidson@worc.ac.uk
Tel 01905 855535
For information on individual collections click on the links below.
The Brown Collection - works by and about G. A. Henty (1832-1902), a prolific writer of historical adventure stories for boys.
The Elkin Collection - multicultural children’s literature. The content includes the Archive of Professor Judith Elkin.
The Hawkes Collection - books of instruction and of adventure focusing on Africa, published in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
The Kays Archive - catalogues, ledgers, meeting minutes and artefacts from the Kays mail order company.
The Manley Collection - fiction for African children written post-independence.
The Ronchetti Collection - a collection of historical children's literature and photographic representations of childhood and dolls.
The Selby Collection - German literature including prose, poetry and translation published between 1821 and 1934.
The Severn Collection - the output of David Severn (David Storr Unwin), a popular children's author in the 1940s and 1950s.
The Westerman Collection - six unpublished manuscripts by Percy F. Westerman, seven Westerman scrapbooks and representative titles of Westerman adventure stories published between 1920 and 1950.
The Williams Collection - autobiographical accounts of childhoods published between 1924 and 2000.
Alphabet and Counting Books – examples of alphabet books from 1836 - 2000.