One of the more lovely resources in the DMU Special Collections is the collection of College of Art Diaries. These were produced in-house by staff and students during the 1940s and 1950s before the practice was stopped in 1962.
They are a showcase of student art work and taken as a whole the collection charts developments and trends in printing, typesetting and lithography. Some of the artists are well known, including Stanley Hickson, Rafal Tajpowski and Rigby Graham.
To celebrate the collection we have made a Flickr album showcasing highlights from each Diary: https://www.flickr.com/photos/dmuspecialcollections/albums/72157652055139518.
The originals are all available to view in the Archive.
About Katharine Short
When I was 13 every careers questionnaire I did at school suggested I become an archivist. In rebellion I studied History of Art at Cambridge and the Courtauld Institute before giving in to the inevitable and undertaking a qualification in Archives Administration at Aberystwyth University. I worked at King’s College London Archives and the London Metropolitan Archives before becoming the Archivist here at DMU in January 2013. My role is hugely varied: answering enquiries and assisting researchers, sorting, cataloguing, cleaning and packaging archival material, managing our environmentally controlled storage areas, giving seminars, talks and tours, researching aspects of University history, liaising with potential donors and advocating for the importance of archives within the organisation. I am one of those incredibly fortunate people who can say ‘I love my job’ and really mean it.
