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Discover Our Online Exhibitions

From biscuit tins to bees, literary treasures to travel tales – discover exhibitions that bring our archives, books and objects to life.

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Explore the University of Reading Special Collections of rare books, archives, manuscripts and designated collections, plus a growing range of online exhibitions and Reading Room research services

About Special Collections

Free entry

University of Reading Special Collections (based at The Museum of English Rural Life),
Redlands Road, Reading, RG1 5EX
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Opening hours

Tuesday – Friday 
Reading Room 9:30am – 4:30pm 
Museum & Cafe 9am – 5pm
Full opening hours

Beckett Collection

The world’s largest collection of resources relating to the Nobel Prize winning author, Samuel Beckett.

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Archive of British Publishing and Printing

The archive covers the full range of British publishing activity from 1800 to the present day

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Rare Books

Our rare book collections of over 80,000 volumes include early printed books, private press books, modern literary first editions and ephemera.

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Business and Family Archives

Nancy Astor, William Henry Smith, Huntley and Palmers, DEGW and more

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Writers’ and artists’ papers

Fiction, poetry, journalism, film, photography and architecture

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Reference Collections

Material to support research using our Special Collections, on Beckett, Museum Studies, book history, evacuees and university history

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Views of the Cloisters and of the Grounds and Buildings, London Road (UHC PH3411)

University History Resources

Institutional collections relating to the University of Reading and its history

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Rare books, archives and manuscripts

Special Collections

Explore nationally recognised collections, from the Overstone Library to the Beckett and British Printing and Publishing archives.

Access the MERL Library, Archives and Special Collections

Reading Room

Book ahead for archive and Special Collections research, or drop in for Open Access Library use. Priority is given to visitors consulting the collections.

Latest News

Published Date
April 27, 2026

The immortal legacy of James Joyce

A review of the University of Reading Special Collection’s exhibition James Joyce: Enigmas and Puzzles, which ran from October 2025 to February 2026, by Jared Geraghty, undergraduate in Art.

Bookshelves with leather bound, 19th century books.
Published Date
March 24, 2026

Finding primary sources to study the transatlantic slave trade

What is a subject explorer for? Subject explorers support students by suggesting primary sources as jumping off points for their dissertation research. The…

Published Date
March 9, 2026

Visualising class, disability, and race on the Victorian stage

This post introduces, via sheet music covers, a few more real individuals whose stories can be used to explore histories of marginalised people. With only 800 of the covers catalogued so far, there are sure to be countless stories still waiting to be rediscovered.  

Published Date
February 23, 2026

Challenging our view of rigid Victorian gender boundaries through music covers

In the first of two blog posts showcasing the research potential of our Spellman Collection of Victorian music covers, we…

Published Date
February 13, 2026

Mills & Boon: The Surprise Archive 

Having long been a lover of a good romance novel, it was a dream come true to be granted permission…

Published Date
February 2, 2026

Festivals of the Imagination: early editions of novels and poetry by James Joyce 

In 2020, Stephen James Joyce, Joyce’s grandson, bequeathed the Solange and Stephen James Joyce Collection to the University of Reading Special…

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