University of Reading Special Collections on Google Arts & Culture

Written by UMASCS Librarian, Claire Clough

We have some exciting news to share with you – we have become the newest member of the Google Arts & Culture family! The University of Reading Special Collections are now on Google Arts & Culture.

For the first time, you can explore treasures and stories from the University of Reading Special Collections on the Google Arts & Culture platform. Our collections sit alongside cultural content from all over the world.

Now more than ever, we are delighted to provide this virtual opportunity to experience our extensive collections online. This week our service has re-opened to the public and in the coming weeks we will be launching new digital services which will be talking about on social media using #StillSpecial.

From books in chains to historical manuscripts

We had some decision making to do when choosing items to add to Google Arts & Culture from our 5km of archives and 40,000 volumes of rare books! But we are delighted to have added a selection of material that highlights treasures from across our collections (from books in chains to historical manuscripts). There is a particular focus on our holdings of Victorian and early 20th century children’s literature and medieval manuscripts.

You can discover our oldest archival item (a 12th century charter of Henry II) and our oldest printed book (from the 1471), alongside our modern Mills & Boon and ephemera collections.

Treasures available for you to see online include this beautifully hand decorated manuscript from c. 1500 and wonderful pictorial children’s book covers, like The coral island by Ballantyne published in 1902 (below).

Manuscript leaf from a Lectionary (or Missal), in Latin, produced in Spain (possibly Toledo or Cordoba) MS 5650/65, now viewable on Google Arts & Culture

The coral island: a tale of the Pacific Ocean / Ballantyne, R.M. (Robert Michael), 1825-1894. London: Blackie, 1902.

The house that biscuits built

Special Collections brings together the University of Reading’s collections of rare books, archives and manuscripts. The collections are a remarkable resource for collections-based learning and research. You can learn more about the collections we hold and how we work to provide access to them from teaching and research (physically and digitally) in a story which also includes a brief history of our wonderful building.