Our archives & special collections

Canterbury archive collections

The Institutional Archive includes a wide range of prospectuses, college and course information, annual reports, award ceremonies, student fashion shows, exhibition catalogues and press cuttings from the Kent art and design schools and their subsequent mergers.

• Canterbury School of Art
• Maidstone College of Art
• Medway College of Design
• KIAD Kent Institute of Art and Design, Rochester, Maidstone, Canterbury
• University for the Creative Arts Rochester and Canterbury

The Herbert Read Gallery Archive consists of administrative papers, publicity material, flyers, press releases and photographs generated by the gallery from 1983 to 2007. Over the years programmed exhibitions and events included artists such as Yoko Ono, Jeremy Deller, Mark Titchner, Mike Nelson, Hans Haacke, Fischli & Weiss, Adam Chodzko, Susan Hiller and UCA students’ annual graduation shows.

Al Kailani Archive: Al Kailani graduated from the School of Architecture in 1975. Through drawings, plans, and photographs the archive traces the development of his designs, and creative journey influenced by his religion, philosophy, Islamic art and architecture.

North & East Kent Public Art Projects Archives 1984-2022: The Whitstable Biennale, Stour Valley Arts and Drew Gallery archives collectively highlight the innovative curatorial activity, and distinctive approaches to site responsive art programming within North and East Kent.

Whitstable Biennale commissioned new visual art over a 20-year period between 2002-2022. Live art, film, performance and sound were shown in non-gallery spaces throughout the town.

Stour Valley Arts were an arts organisation which engaged the public through commissioned art projects in the context of King’s Wood, Ashford, Kent. The collection exemplifies the development of public art and educational outreach in the local area from 1994 to 2015.

Drew Gallery Projects archive serves as evidence of the earliest developments in East Kent of the role of public art and regeneration. Between the 1980s and 90s, Sandra Drew curated temporary art and sculpture exhibitions alongside the Canterbury Festival.

Canterbury special book collections

Our extensive collection of Artists’ Books demonstrates narratives through illustration and graphic expression.

There are two zine collections; the general zine collection contributed to by artists, staff and students and The Public Zine Library Collection, a commissioned project for the 2014 Whitstable Biennale, a collaboration between Collaborative Research Group, UCA and CRATE.

Sir Herbert Read (1893 – 1968) was a British art historian, poet, literary critic, and philosopher, best known for his collection of books on art. The Herbert Read Book Collection consists of books on poetry, sculpture, drawing, art history and theory, and psychology.

Urban Fox Press brought together artists and musicians from across Medway and gave them a platform to perform, exhibit and publish their work. It was founded by Dave Wise in Chatham in 2003. The Press produced high-quality, low-print run books by local artists and writers, including Billy Childish, Wolf Howard, Sexton Ming, Bill Lewis, Zara Carpenter, Katherine May, Joe Machine, Michael Curtis, The Medway Mermaids and David Wise.

Epsom archive collections

The Institutional Archive for Epsom School of Art & Design includes:

• Minutes of the Academic Board and Governors meetings from 1943 to the present day
• A selection of prospectuses and course timetables from 1896 – 1990
• Building information including blueprints and plans of the original and current sites
• Exhibition catalogues and publications covering the entire history of the Epsom campus
• A collection of marketing, publicity and press cuttings.

Materials Collection: This collection of samples provides a tactile and sensory opportunity to explore the dynamic properties, composition, and functional traits of materials for design and creative practice.

The Typographic Circle (2008 - 2016) was founded by Maggie Lewis in 1976, who brought together people with an interest in typography and type. The poster collection publicises talks and exhibitions by the Circle. Designers who presented at the TypoCircle events over the years include Alan Kitching, Jonathan Barnbrook, Marina Willer and Snask.

The Stuart Aitken Research Files contain technical fashion research notes, illustrated pattern cutting and fashion and textile history covering the Architecture of Clothing 300AD to 1900AD and Architecture of Fashion from Modern to Postmodern.

Epsom special book collections

The collection of Artists’ Books demonstrates the diverse and creative nature of this format. It is an inspirational resource for fine art, fashion, photography.

Epsom library’s zine collection features both student and independent zines, with a strong focus on fashion and LGBTQIA+ identity. It explores everything from feminist fashion and queer style to subcultures, encompassing the pretty and the punk.

Farnham archive collections

The Institutional Archive comprises of material from faculties, departments, and administrative bodies, committee records, prospectuses, photographs, press cuttings and student magazines and the administrative records of the merger of the six art and design schools across Kent and Surrey in 2005.

• Farnham School of Art 1951 – 1979
• Guildford School of Art 1945 – 1969
• West Surrey College of Art and Design 1969 – 1994
• Surrey Institute of Art and Design 1994 – 2005
• University College for the Creative Arts Farnham

Bob Godfrey, the internationally celebrated animator, founded the Animation programme at UCA Farnham in the 1970s. The Bob Godfrey Animation Archive includes scripts, storyboards, correspondence, animation cels, pencil drawings, award certificates and photographs, along with the studio’s collection of books, now the Bob Godfrey Library.

The Dick Arnall Archive (1944 - 2007) reflects the histories of artist-made animations in the UK and Europe from the early 1960s to the late 2000s. The collection includes material from significant artist-focused animation events and organisations. Arnall was a highly influential animation producer who ran the innovative and productive Finetake film company.

Tessa Boffin was a lecturer in the photography department of the University until her death in 1992. As a photographer and performance artist she developed her artistic practice around LGBT, gay and lesbian culture and produced work in response to HIV/AIDS. The Tessa Boffin Archive contains her private collection of photographs, books, postcards, images, teaching and her research notes.

Business Cards Collection: 240,000 business cards from across the world - ephemera dating from the mid-nineteenth century demonstrating the development of the business calling card as a medium of advertising.

The Working Press published books by and about Working Class Artists and other underrepresented marginalised groups in the arts. The Working Press Archive (1986 - 1996) collected by Stefan Szczelkun reflecting activism and politics of the mid 1980s – 1990s.

The Diagram Group (1960s - 2000s) or Diagram Visual Information founded in 1960 by Bob Chapman and Bruce Robertson a cooperative group of graphic designers, writers, artists, and editors. The group was developed as a supplier to publishers of visualised information in Britain. Our collection consists of original manuscripts and published books.

Farnham special book collections

As well as being of interest to students of fine art, illustration, photography, graphic and book design, our collection of Artists’ Books & Zines also includes inspirational examples of unusual narrative structure, expressing ideas in three-dimensional form and using text and typography.

bookRoom is a platform for multidisciplinary and collaborative modes of inquiry around the photobook and the printed page, based in Farnham and led by Emmanuelle Waeckerlé since 2009 (formed in 2004 with Prof Anna Fox). bookRoom engages with making in print form (bookRoom press), public events (artist talks, conferences, performances and exhibitions) and online at thebookroom.net.