Previous Projects

Projects funded by the Research Support Libraries Programme:

  • The conservation of the 19th century material in the Wallis Collection on the History of Mathematics, with partnership funding from the Research Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences strand of the Research Support Libraries Programme (HOST: History of Science and Technology Project).  It was undertaken by the Library's own Bindery and Conservation Unit
  • The cataloguing of the 19th century pamphlets in the Cowen Tracts, with partnership funding from the Research Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences strand of the Research Support Libraries Programme (19th Century Pamphlets Project) is now complete. Work on further 19th Century pamphlets has also been completed.
  • Under the Research Collections in the Humanities and Social Sciences strand of the Research Support Libraries Programme, the Library has contributed mapping data to the Genesis Project, which aims to record and organise information about women's history collections throughout the UK.
Projects funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee:
  • The Library was part-funded by the Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC) to support the input of collection-level descriptions of the Library's archival collections to the Archives Hub.
Projects funded by HEFCE Non-Formula Funding:

In 1995, the Library obtained funding totalling £439,000 from HEFCE's initiative on non-formula funding for research collections in the humanities. The four funded projects have been completed, as follows:

  • The Gertrude Bell Project. The Gertrude Bell Web Site consists of the full text of Gertrude Bell's letters to her family, her diaries and the thousands of photographs she took on her travels.
  • tens of thousands of Special Collections records were converted from cards to the Library's OPAC. The successful completion of the project has resulted in a very substantial increase in the use of Special Collections, especially by undergraduates.
  • the Runciman Papers have been conserved by transferring about 20,000 documents from highly acidic manilla envelopes (each one often containing over 100 items) to archival grade melinex pockets, which were then bound in protective black binders with cord. Individual documents were deacidified and repaired as necessary.
    Researchers have commented upon the improved access afforded by this method of storage.
  • the White Collection (the library of Robert White (1802-1874), consisting of 4,400 volumes) has been conserved. The entire collection, which was very dirty, was first of all cleaned and then individual books were repaired, or, when the condition was exceptionally poor, either rebound or boxed.

All conservation work was undertaken by the Library's own Bindery and Conservation Unit

National Manuscripts Conservation Trust Project: Trevelyan Papers
  • The conservation of the Charles Edward Trevelyan and George Otto Trevelyan Papers continues with the project entering its final stage.
  • Work on the Walter Calverley and the Charles Philips Trevelyan Papers has now been completed.
The Trevelyan Papers are one of the Library's most significant Special Collections
The conservation work is being undertaken by the Library's own Bindery and Conservation Unit