In the spring semester of the 2023-24 academic year, students in the ‘Wrapping Words’ course that is part of the final year Spanish language module had the opportunity to work with the Cuban Handmade Book Collection in the McClay Library Special Collections. This growing collection that spans the 1990s and 2000s, comprising works by Ediciones Vigía and Ediciones El Fortín is a rich source of beautifully created literature and a tangible link to the teams of people who printed, cut, pasted, and painted the repurposed materials to make unique reading experiences. The students study the wo ..read more

Special Collections are pleased to announce that a new combined collection, O’Rahilly Correspondence MS 95, is now available for consultation. O’Rahilly Correspondence consists of a series of correspondence between the renowned Celtic Scholar T.F O’Rahilly (1883-1953) and M. O’Catháin, A. Martin Freeman, Paul Grosjean, James Hogan, George Russell, and D.J O’Sullivan. There are also miscellaneous typescripts of translations with handwritten annotations. T.F O’Rahilly courtesy of School of Celtic Studies Dublin These collections were previously held at MS 1/208, MS 1/236 and MS 1/237 and have b ..read more

To mark the birthday of Havelock Nelson on 25th May, Special Collections would like to highlight the remarkable MS 51 Havelock Nelson Manuscripts Collection. Havelock Nelson (photograph from Identity Card – MS 51/134/1) MS 51 Havelock Nelson Manuscripts collection contains the personal papers of John Havelock Nelson (1917-1996) bacteriologist, composer, arranger, conductor, and promoter of Opera.  Havelock Nelson was born on 25th May 1917 in Cork. When he was twelve years old, he won a scholarship to the Royal Irish Academy of Music and in 1935 entered Trinity College Dublin, where he obt ..read more

MS 36/4/2/2 Photo of Albert Campbell Special Collections is pleased to announce that a new manuscript collection, the Campbell Collection, is available for consultation. This is a small collection of papers relating to Irish physicist Albert Campbell (1862-1953). Campbell was a pioneer in electrical science, especially in the fields of alternating current measurements and standards. Campbell was born at Ballynagard House, near Derry. He was educated at Londonderry Academical Institution, Magee College, University of Edinburgh, Queen’s College Belfast and Corpus Christi College, University of ..read more

Special Collections is happy to announce that our new manuscript collection, the Desht collection, is now available for consultation. In 2006 documentary photographer Martin Desht accepted a teaching residency at Queen’s University Belfast. During this time, he toured Belfast extensively, photographing as he went. The results of this residency became the exhibit A Certain Peace: Acceptance and Defiance in Northern Ireland. Desht’s interest in photography first began in the 1980’s, while he was working onboard the SV Harvey Gamage, a schooner, off the coast of New England. He soon came to speci ..read more

This exhibition, situated on the Ground Floor of the McClay, celebrates student creativity and the ability to interpret Latin American short stories through textile making. The course in which students make the textiles seeks to foment an awareness that we live entangled lives, that our choices impact on those individuals and environments far from us, and that literature and textiles have a particular way of speaking these realities. Tatiana Lobo, whose short stories are central to our studies, was Chilean by birth but naturalised Costa Rican. She is one of a growing group of Latin American ..read more

Special Collections at Queen’s University is pleased to announce that we have a new manuscript collection ready for viewing. MS 78, The Watt Collection, are the personal papers of Samuel Watt, a QUB graduate who went on to become deeply involved with the Northern Ireland Labour Party throughout the 1950’s and 60’s. The collection comprises several thousand documents relating to his time as a party activist, his unsuccessful attempts to stand for the party in several elections, his time in London where he founded the Ulster Labour Group and a great deal more. The history of the Northern Ireland ..read more

MS 4/29 Captain Magan & Creamonea Many people have heard of Edward Bunting and his unique manuscript collection held in Special Collections at Queen’s University. What is perhaps less well known is that the most important manuscript in this collection is Manuscript 29 or MS 4/29. It is a rather unassuming and humble notebook to look at but contains a wealth of information about the music the harpers at the Belfast harpers’ meeting (Belfast Harp Festival, 1792) played, also the harps they played on and the technique they used to play them. While the gathering of musicians was intended to re ..read more

For my school’s week of work experience, I was lucky enough to gain a work placement at the Queen’s University libraries, which was a really exciting opportunity for me to see how an academic library works, and the various roles it contains. On my arrival to the McClay, I was met by Jacqueline and was shown around the whole library, including the beautiful C.S. Lewis Room, before starting off on the ground floor at the main desk. Despite initially being a bit nervous, the staff all put me at my ease and I learnt a lot about how the system worked, as well as how staff respond to queries on the ..read more

Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast, 2023 The World Administered By Irishmen: The Life and Times of Robert Hart and Contemporary Irish in East Asia by Robin Masefield was published earlier this year and launched at the McClay Library on 29th September 2023. The book can be obtained from local booksellers, purchased online through Blackstaff Press, or purchased online through Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s University Belfast. The World Administered by Irishmen is a widely-researched book, published by Special Collections & Archives, Queen’s Universit ..read more