Libraries, museums and research culture


Libraries in Manchester
The chief local resource is the University of Manchester Library, whose main site is a short walk away on the other side of Oxford Road. The UML is the UK’s largest non-legal-deposit library, with more than 4 million printed books and manuscripts. It’s also home to the University Archives, and to the National Archive for the History of Computing, directed by CHSTM.

Apart from the main site, there are ten satellite libraries on various parts of the University campus. You will probably need to use several of these at some point, so it’s worth finding out where they’re located. There’s a map on the University Library website:

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/locations-and-opening-hours/

The John Rylands Library, Deansgate is the associated Special Collections/Rare Books and Manuscripts facility: it’s in the city centre, some distance from the main site. Deansgate holds many unique archive collections which past students have used for dissertation research. Full details are available at

http://www.library.manchester.ac.uk/specialcollections/

Other local libraries worth knowing about:

  • Manchester Central Library (“Central Ref”). Main City Council facility, and also home to the main archive services to the city. Important local history collections. http://www.manchester.gov.uk/centrallibrary
  • Chetham’s Library. Oldest surviving public library in the English-speaking world, founded 1653. Important early book and manuscript holdings: https://library.chethams.com/
  • Portico Library. Historic private subscription library (John Dalton was an early member) with a large nineteenth-century collection: http://www.theportico.org.uk/

Museums
As a student on this course you should, of course, familiarise yourself with all the local museums with an HSTM dimension – not only to learn more about the history, but to see how those museums present it to public audiences.

  • Manchester Museum, Oxford Road. Part of the University. Natural history (botany, zoology, geology); anthropology and ethnology; biosciences; local artefacts. Famous collections from excavations in Egypt. http://www.museum.manchester.ac.uk/
  • Science and Industry Museum, Liverpool Road, Castlefield. Close research links with CHSTM. Mainly engineering, physical sciences and communications; strong on transport history, working engines, textiles and the industrial city. Museum site has an interesting history as the former terminus of the world’s first passenger railway. http://msimanchester.org.uk
  • People’s History Museum, Left Bank (off Quay Street), Spinningfields. Mainly history of the organised labour movement. Important social dimension for understanding industrial change. http://www.phm.org.uk/
  • Imperial War Museum North, Salford Quays. One gallery dedicated to “science, technology and war”. http://north.iwm.org.uk/

CHSTM research seminars
A research seminar is a session at which a researcher gives a lecture-style presentation on his or her current work and takes questions from the audience. Attending research seminars is an important part of your experience on this programme and attendance at the main CHSTM seminar is required. Part-time students, who may be unable to attend seminars, should discuss alternative arrangements with the Programme Director.

Unlike your course lectures and taught seminars, which will (usually) concentrate on the older and more established research that shapes the field, research seminars feature brand-new (often unfinished) research, and will give you more of an insight into the life of a working researcher.

CHSTM runs two main seminar series during the teaching semester:

  • CHSTM Seminar (fortnightly; Tuesdays, 16.00-17.30, Room 2.57). Our main formal series featuring invited speakers from institutions across Britain and the world, ranging from well-known senior figures to promising younger members of the profession. This is also CHSTM’s main regular social gathering. We usually adjourn for drinks somewhere after the seminar: you are encouraged to come along and meet other students, staff and the speaker.
  • Lunchtime Seminar (scheduling to be announced). Organised by PhD students, this is a less formal series featuring shorter work-in-progress reports from CHSTM staff and students, and occasionally grad students from other institutions. You are particularly encouraged to attend these sessions since they will give you not only an overview of the research going on in CHSTM, but also a sense of how to formulate a research question and then answer it. Bring a sandwich, or stay afterwards for lunch with PhD students and the speaker.

CHSTM also runs several more specialised monthly or annual seminars and speaker events. For full details, see the Seminars page on the CHSTM website.