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Special Collections Lunchtime Drop-Ins

A delegate examining a medieval book at our Special Collections drop in.

Explore the medieval resources of Leeds University Library Special Collections and meet the people who take care of them at our special lunchtime drop-in session during IMC 2025.

Special Collections Drop-In Sessions

Highlights from Leeds University Library Special Collections

Hosted by Leeds University Library's Special Collections

Tuesday 08 July, 12.00-14.00
Wednesday 09 July, 12.00-14.00
Parkinson Building: Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery

Drop in to see medieval treasures and objects which show the continuing influence of the Middle Ages on literature, theatre, and the decorative arts throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Special Collections staff will be in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery  Tuesday 8 July and Wednesday 9 July, with a selection of highlights from the collections for you to examine up close as part of the International Medieval Congress 2025. 

Join us for a drop-in session to see medieval treasures and works inspired by the Middle Ages from Cultural Collections at the University of Leeds. Cultural Collections staff will be in the Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery with a selection of highlights from the collections for delegates to examine close up.

The medieval collections at Leeds contain beautiful illuminated 15th-century French and Flemish books of hours, psalters, and prayer books, as well as German chained manuscripts from the 1450s. We also have a fine collection of incunabula. The Library of Ripon Cathedral is held on long-term deposit at the University of Leeds and includes a Latin Bible from the 13th century. 

A highlight of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society Collection is the enormous series of surviving court rolls of the manor of Wakefield (1274-1925). In 2023, the University of Leeds was allocated an eclectic group of rare books and manuscripts via the UK’s Acceptance in Lieu programme, including 10th-century Byzantine Gospels, a rare text printed by Caxton, and an early 15th-century manuscript of Thomas Hoccleve’s Regiment of Princes. 

Cultural Collections houses over 350,000 rare books and more than seven kilometres of manuscripts and archives, including the celebrated Brotherton Collection. Find details of Research Centre opening times and collections at https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1500/special_collections.

If you would like to see any of the collections during your visit to Leeds, please view the catalogue online and make a Research Centre booking at least three working days in advance.

Other Exhibitions

Additionally, throughout IMC 2025, the following galleries and exhibitions will be taking place:

Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery, Parkinson Building

The Treasures of the Brotherton Gallery is the public face of the world-renowned Special Collections held at the University of Leeds.
The permanent display contains many highlights, including beautiful illuminated medieval manuscripts and rare early printed books from across the globe. Special Collections holds an unprecedented five collections which have been identified as nationally or internationally significant through the Arts Council England Designation Scheme.

Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10.00-17.00. Free admission.

During IMC 2025, we will also be hosting the following exhibitions:

Animated Activism: Women Empowered

Drawing on two dynamic archives, Leeds Animation Workshop and the Women’s Aid Federation of England, this exhibition celebrates these organisations’ vital work from the 1970s to the present day. Leeds Animation Workshop is a women’s collective that was set up in 1978 to produce and distribute animated films on social issues. Women’s Aid is a domestic abuse charity that works as the national co-ordinating body for local refuges and domestic abuse services in England. Central to the exhibition are the stories and voices of women.

Sick Too

Programmed alongside Sarah Roberts: Sick, this display investigates the creative process behind Roberts’ new installation. Based on her residency in Special Collections in 2024, we present a selection of archival materials used by the artist in the development of her work.

The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, Parkinson Building

Open: Tuesday-Saturday, 10.00-17.00. Free admission.
The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery is an oasis of calm at the heart of the University of Leeds campus. During IMC 2025, this exhibition will be taking place:

Sarah Roberts: Sick (a note from 40 Sandilands Road and other stories)

Experience Sarah Roberts’ immersive installation in her first institutional solo show. This new commission draws on the artist’s personal experience and the research she conducted during a residency at the University of Leeds. The exhibition explores environments of care and the permeation between domestic and hospital settings as hybrid and constructed spaces, highlighting their inherent strangeness.

Supported by the Henry Moore Foundation.

Find out more via our website: www.tinyurl.com/stanley-audrey-info.

Find out more about our Libraries, Galleries, and Special Collections via the University of Leeds Library and Galleries website.