University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections

A watercolour drawing of Christopher Robin reattaching Eeyore's tail while Winnie-the-Pooh watches on.

Happy #WorldKindnessDay! What can we learn about kindness from Winnie-the-Pooh and friends?

Line illustrations copyright ©The Trustees of The Shepard Trust
Colouring of the illustrations copyright ©1970 and 1973 The Trustees of The Shepard Trust and HarperCollinsPublishers Limited
[Ref EGM/1/32/1]

Today is #WorldDigitalPreservationDay!

This year, the theme is 'Why Preserve?' It's a tricky question, but our archivist Simon has had a go at providing an answer - read our latest blog post to find out more!

blogs.surrey.ac.uk/archives/202...

#digipres #wdpd2025 #digitalarchives

A collection of polystyrene models of molecules. They are coloured black and white, mauve, green and red. Unfortunately the archivist's molecular knowledge is limited, so we can't say what type of molecules they are.

And now for our latest 'Unlikely Objects in the Archive' post, we have: molecular models!
These were created by a Physics student in the 1960s, and then used as a teaching aid in schools for over 25 years before being donated to our collections.

#scienceteaching #physics

A chafing pan

A small gueridon stand with a burner lamp beneath.

A large gueridon stand - the pan would have rested on top of this, keeping the food warm.

The burner in the centre of the gueridon stand.

Some of the fabulous mid-20th century electro-plated nickel silver-ware objects in the University's archive, used in Battersea Polytechnic's Domestic Science training restaurant to keep guests' food warm.

You can see these on display outside our Research Room on campus.

#universitycollections

A turquoise-blue pennant with a gold braid border. The University of Surrey coat of arms is in the centre.

Close up of the embroidered University of Surrey coat of arms, featuring three swords denoting the three polytechnic institutes, originally planned in South London, below the Surrey County blue and gold chequers and two woolsacks, denoting the university's new location in Guildford.

We're showcasing some of the objects in our University Archives, dating back to 1891 when we started out as Battersea Polytechnic in south London.
This pennant dates from the 1960s, when the Polytechnic became a University at Guildford.

It may have been waved at sports events.

#EYAEducation

Black and white photograph of a female dancer, standing on a grass with the sky behind her. She is dressed in a white tunic with a decorative border and is leaning back, holding a spear and poised to throw it.

This month we're very pleased to have the September feature over on the #ArchivesHub monthly blog.

Our blog explores the background of Classical Greek Dance, a fascinating early 20th Century dance movement, using items from two of our dance collections.

#dancearchives

Good spot!

If it comes with a puppy, that's *very* fancy! 😍

We were the same - it didn't match the letter in her surname and then got stumped - and probably led astray by her cookery course choice too.

👏 Ahhh, we can see the 'x' now - thank you!

A yellowing student registration card from Battersea Polytechnic, showing the details of one Florence Bland, who was enrolled on the Cookery course in 1923-1925.

Calling the hive mind of Bluesky, and in particular those with paleography skills or an interest in early 20th century cookery.
We think the 'Occupation' listed here is 'Fancy Rose Maker' - opinions sought on whether this is correct and what this job entailed...

#paleography #educationhistory

A tiny book, open at the title page showing a black and white portrait of Percy Shelly and the title 'The Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley'. There is a stamp showing that the book is part of the Farrer library of the University of Surrey.

Interior of a book with marbling in shades of deep red, gold and blue.

Wishing a Happy Birthday to Percy Bysshe Shelley, born #OTD in 1792!
This little volume of his collected works is from our Thomas Farrer Collection of rare books and has some beautiful marbling on the inner covers.

Sepia coloured registration card for a student of Battersea Polytechnic from 1923-1924. The student is studying for a Health Visitor Qualification, with modules including Sanitary Law, Personal Hygiene and Child Care.

The reverse of the card shows that she was also studying Motor Car Mechanics and Driving - presumably to ensure that she could travel independently to perform her role.

2/2 ...such as one Alexandra Bannerman from 1923, who was studying to become a Health Visitor with a side interest in Motor Car Mechanics 🩺⚕️🚗

A group of people sitting at tables, undertaking conservation cleaning work on yellow registration cards.

1/2 We're delighted to be launching a staff project aimed at conserving our collections while providing a wellbeing and social activity. @surreylib.bsky.social colleagues joined us to clean and repackage early 20th century student registration cards, and discovered some hidden stories...

Hi, passing this to @uniofsurrey.bsky.social :)

An arts and crafts-era half-timbered building surrounded by lush shrubs and trees, against a blue sky.

Lovely location at Watts Gallery near Guildford for joining a cross collaboration of researchers from @uniofsurrey.bsky.social School of Arts, Humanities and Creative Industries to talk about interdisciplinary research and seeing where our archive collections could connect.

A group of students and staff in a research room stand and raise their hands in the air (like they just don't care, but the vibe in the room was full of laughter).

A group of five students sit around a table looking at a mixture of archive materials.

Dancing in the research room! 💃
We welcomed a group from ‪‬Grinnell College, Iowa to our Research Room to investigate the links between dance, and language using our #rudolflaban archive, and in particular, the Czech dancer Milca Mayerova.
@grinnellcollege.bsky.social
#dancearchives #archives

An illustration of an interested-looking honey bee, with splodges of yellow on her tummy and blue wings. Underneath is written 'WTP 16', probably by the printer.

In honour of #WorldBeeDay, here is a honeybee, drawn lifesize by E. H. Shepard for 'Winnie-the-Pooh'.

Ref. EGM/1/10 (c) HarperCollins Publishers Limited

A table with yellow registration cards and conservation cleaning materials, with the hands of our volunteer who is busy removing surface dirt.

A lovely morning working with one of our volunteers on a project to clean and rehouse hundreds of early 20th century student registration cards.

A chance to explore some forgotten stories and have a natter!

#archivevolunteers #chat #wellbeing #studentlife #archiveconservation

Job Vacancy at the University of Surrey: Project Archivist (E.H. Shepard collections) The University of Surrey is a global community of ideas and people, dedicated to life-changing education and research. We are ambitious and have a bold vision of what we want to achieve - shaping ours...

🚨We're hiring! 🚨

Applications are open for a qualified archivist for the post of Project Archivist working on the E.H. Shepard Collections at the University of Surrey Archives.

Details available here: jobs.surrey.ac.uk/022425

Deadline: Monday 19 May

#archivejobs #jobs #hiring

A sword, shield and two black and white photographs of women dancing are shown in a display cabinet.

A collection of black and white photographs of women dancing outside and a notebook displayed in a glass cabinet.

If you spotted our post from a couple of weeks back, you may like to know that the sword and shield are part of our Classical Greek Dance display outside our Research Room on campus.
If you're in the area, do visit us to find out more, and look out for our forthcoming blog post on CGD.

With the mime artist Irene Mawer, Ginner created a school to teach Greek Dance in 1921. One of their students was Bice Bellairs, who would go on to found the Guildford School of Acting, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.

This black and white photo shows four young women in ancient Greek-style tunics in a variety of poses. They are in a garden, with trees and bushes in the background.

It's International Dance Day, and here is a fabulous image from our new display on Classical Greek Dance.

The Classical, or Revived, Greek Dance movement was created in the early 1900s by Ruby Ginner using images from ancient Greek art to reconstruct dance movements.

A sword and a shield displayed on a table. The shield has wiggly snakes painted around the outer edge and is slightly battered. We believe that it was probably a repurposed dustbin lid. The sword has a short metal blade and a intricate, gold-coloured hilt. Ref. CGD/O/1-2

Looking forward to getting our next display in at the Research Room!

Any guesses as to what our theme might be? 🤔

Keep an eye out in May for further information 👀

A statuette of a woman clothed in orange robes sitting cross legged and raising one hand in a gesture of peace. It was made by Doris Flinn c. 1930s and originally owned by Madge Atkinson, founder of Natural Movement system of dance. Next to it is a figurine of Christopher Bruce as 'Pierrot Lunaire' in Glen Tetley's ballet, sculpted by Nathan David in 1979. Both figures are positioned on the window sill of the Archive and Special Collections Research Room, overlooked by a tree outside the window.

The University of Surrey Archives and Special Collections will be closed for the Easter break from 17-23 April, reopening on Thursday 24 April for all your archive enquiries.

We hope you enjoy the Easter Bank Holiday weekend!

👏

☂️

From our collections: A portrait of Peggy Airey in a red robe, a floral vase and a sooty songster xylophone

We need your help! We're still quite new to Bluesky and would love a few more followers.

Please like and share this post. In return, reply with a colour or emoji and we'll find something from our collections.

Thank you in advance 🙂

Conserve this! Efflorescence is often mistaken for mold, but a good way to tell the difference is: 1) it only happens to the leather-bound books (vs. a mold outbreak, which will affect neighboring books regardless.....

And a shout out to @illinoisrbml.bsky.social for their very useful and informative 2014 article about this!
conservethis.tumblr.com/post/1058774...

We can see a shelf with four leather and cloth-bound books. One of the books shows white markings over the title 'Carlyle's Works'.

We can see blue-gloved hands wiping the spine of a leather-bound book with a cloth.

Several books on a shelf. The white mark on the book from the original image has been removed so that it is restored to its former glory.

Removing efflorescence from some of the rare books in our Thomas Farrer Collections - these are salts from the binding process that emerge over time due to changing atmospheric conditions.