This post was written by Alice Measom, the archivist at Goldsmiths, University of London Special Collections & Archives.

Goldsmiths, University of London Special Collections & Archives is dedicated to facilitating access to research materials of particular interest to higher education students and academic researchers. Examples of items available for viewing include rare books, slides, textiles and music scores. Special Collections & Archives aims to reflect the university ’s prominent status as a centre of excellence in the arts and humanities, as well as its active involvement with the culture of the local communities and broader society of contemporary Britain.

We house a diverse range of collections so as to best aid researchers in discovering new items of interest that might be otherwise difficult to access. The Women’s Art Library is a myriad of specialist material dedicated to women artists both historical and contemporary. There is a wealth of exhibition catalogues and artists’ biographies, as well as an expansive collection of photographic slide files and ephemera boxes that give detailed insight into the artists’ own unique working processes. The Women’s Art Library is an essential resource for those interested in art history and practice and continues to exist as an invaluable and well used resource since settling in Special Collections & Archives in 2004.

Other collections include the Oram Archive, a cohesive body of documents and materials pertaining to the mid twentieth century avant-garde electronic musician Daphne Oram, the Lift Living Archivea record of The London International Festival of Theatre and Women’s Revolutions Per Minute (WRPM), a series of recordings of music performed, composed and produced by women through a feminist distribution business model.

A recent acquisition of Special Collections & Archives includes the Textiles Collection. Acquired in 2010, the Textiles Collection holds a specialist reference library that includes historical and anthropological resources on textiles and dress, books on textile materials and techniques, with a substantial selection of rare materials on textile and fibre art, exhibition catalogues, and books and pamphlets on individual artists. The Textiles Collection is an essential resource for anyone interested in the craft of textiles art.

A complete overview of all the collections can be found on the website. Special Collections & Archives is located on the ground floor of Goldsmiths Library and is open Monday-Friday 10.00 – 18.00 except Wednesdays when we are open until 7pm.  For more information visit our website, email us at special.collections@gold.ac.uk, or call on +44(0)20 7717 2295.

The Textiles Collection is located in the Deptford Town Hall and is open Tuesday-Thursday 11.00 – 1700. For more information visit the Textiles Collection webpage, email textiles@gold.ac.uk or call on +44(0)20 7717 2210.