MMU Special Collections
MMU Special Collections
Reading Room and Gallery
Opening times
| Monday - Friday | 10.00 - 16.00 |
|---|---|
| Saturday | 12.00 - 16.00 (term time only) |
Please bear with us
Essential repairs are taking place in Special Collections over the next few weeks and our new exhibition will now open on 24 June.
The Reading Room remains open Monday-Friday, 10am-4pm, and on the following Saturdays from 12noon-4pm: 18 May, 8 and 15 June. Visitors will need to press the Reading Room buzzer to gain entry.
The gallery will re-open on Monday 24 June.
The collections
The collections are central to the artistic culture and teaching of the faculty and have been since its foundation as the Manchester School of Art in 1853.
The collections include:
- Artists' Books: a great range of creative experimentations with the book form
- 20th century international poster collections
- The Manchester School of Art Collection including fine and decorative art and the work of past and present students and staff
- The Schmoller Collection of Decorated Papers
- Children's Book Collection: featuring 19th and 20th century children's book illustration
- Book collections exploring aspects of the book as an artifact
- Archive collections including artists' working drawings and correspondence
- Manchester Society of Architects Library
- Victorian ephemera featuring 19th century albums and scrapbooks
- Mary Butcher collection of Baxter prints
How do I access the collections?
The Book Design, Artists' Books and Children's Book collections can be accessed without an appointment and can be searched on the Library catalogue.
The Manchester School of Art collection, the Archive collections, the Schmoller Collection of Decorated Papers and the Poster collections can be searched on the Special Collections catalogue. Please contact us to make an appointment to view material from these collections.
Exhibitions
The Special Collections Gallery has a programme of exhibitions relating to the collections and also showcases the art and design practice and research of staff and students. Exhibition catalogues and collection publications are available to purchase. To hear about future events and exhibitions join our mailing list by visiting the Special Collections website.
Keeping up to date
Sign up for news about future exhibitions, events and talks via our email newsletter:
Other ways of keeping up to date:
Study facilities
- Browse and research these unique collections in the quiet Reading Room, with specialist staff available to help with your research.
- The Education Room can be used for teaching groups of up to 20 and the space can be hired for private functions. For more information please contact 0161 247 6107 or email lib-spec-coll@mmu.ac.uk
Keeping up to date
MMU Special Collections news updates are available by RSS feed and Twitter updates:
To receive news about future exhibitions, events and talks sign up to our e-newsletter.
Current Exhibition
No current exhibition
There's also an archive of previous exhibitions and information about future exhibitions.
Full screen image viewer
All the images on the collections pages can also be viewed at your full screen size.
We'd recommend a screen resolution of at least 800x600.
Study
Want to use the collections for study? How to get access to the Collections.
Where are we?
Maps of our locations and contact details for Staff in the Special Collections.