New exhibition in the Stirling Campus Library – Treasures from our Collections

A new exhibition is now on display in the Library at the Stirling Campus. Treasures from our art, archives and special collections have been gathered together to form an exhibition which will run until the end of April.

 

The University of Stirling is fortunate to hold a wide variety of ‘treasures’, in its Art Collection, Archives and Special Collections. Although the University is relatively young (and so has not benefitted from the gifts and bequests which a medieval university might expect), you may be surprised at some of the collections we hold. The latest exhibition in the Library contains a selection of items of great historic and cultural importance held in our University Collections.

 

The art on the walls has been selected by two members of the University’s original Art Committee (1967-1974) which was responsible for fulfilling Tom Cottrell’s vision that art should be part of the everyday experience at the University. Matilda Mitchell was, as Tom Cottrell’s Secretary, the first full-time employee of Stirling Unviersity and the first Curator of the Art Collection.  Douglas Hall sat on the Art Committee from 1968 -1972. He was the first Keeper of Art at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, in which role he promoted and supported the life of the visual Arts in Scotland.

 

Matilda, ably guided by Douglas, installed and sustained a continuous series of exhibitions in Pathfoot and the MacRobert during the late sixties and early seventies while keeping a watchful eye on the Art Collection, ensuring the holdings developed national and international significance. It’s a privilege to have them select their favourite pieces from the Collection and once again fill the University walls with colour.

 

We are also grateful to those members of academic staff who have selected their favourite ‘treasures’ for display in the reading room cases and have contributed their expertise to the exhibition as well as short essays on the historical importance of their chosen objects. Our Archives and Special Collections provide a wide variety of material for researchers, as this exhibition demonstrates.

 

The exhibition can be viewed whenever the Library is open, but if you are not able to make it in person, a selection of the resources can be viewed online in our Flickr account.