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Special Collections

Exhibitions

Special collections and archives exhibition space
Exhibition space.

Our dedicated exhibition space regularly showcases collections for visitors.

Digital exhibitions

Highlights of current and past exhibitions can be viewed below.

Celebrating 50 years of Innovate Trust: the amazing history of the UK’s first supported living home

9 April 2019

Innovate Trust celebrates its 50th birthday this year. This independent charity, which has changed the lives of disabled people across the world, started right here, at Cardiff University. This year, volunteers with disabilities have delved into the charity’s humble beginnings, … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Collingwood Archive

9 May 2018

This exhibition explores the lives of the Collingwood family: four generations of influential artists and writers based in the Lake District. Their passions included art and art history, photography, archaeology, architecture, aviation, Icelandic studies, and philosophy. Launched on the first … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Neighbourly Devils

13 March 2018

Don’t miss your last chance to see Neighbourly Devils, our exhibition on fairies and folklore in Wales! The exhibition will remain in Special Collections and Archives until 31 March, and can also be viewed online.  What exactly did the Puritan … Continue reading →

Edward Thomas 100: Exhibition launch

7 April 2017

A frustrated writer, suffocated by family life, and crippled by depression and self-doubt, Edward Thomas (1878-1917) found his personal and literary salvation as a soldier in the First World War. ​In 2017, Cardiff University, holder of the world’s largest archive … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Tennyson’s Women

31 August 2016

Special Collections and Archives‘ latest exhibition, Tennyson’s Women, compares changing artistic approaches to illustrating the works of Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892). It examines the visual depiction of female characters in the context of the Victorian medieval revival. Forgotten female illustrators, such as … Continue reading →

Exhibition: David Jones (1895-1974)

9 May 2016

Curated by Prof. Judi Loach, School of History, Archaeology and Religion. Images are reproduced with kind permission of the Trustees of the David Jones Estate. David Jones would become one of the leading figures in Britain’s inter-war revival of wood engraving, … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Illustrating Shakespeare

22 March 2016

Guest-curated by final year PhD student Michael John Goodman, Illustrating Shakespeare focuses on the visual representation of six of Shakespeare’s most engaging heroes and villains. Read more about the background to the exhibition, and Michael’s wider research on Shakespeare illustration, in … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Livres d’Artistes

10 December 2015

Our latest exhibition was launched at the opening of the Livres d’Artistes: The Artist’s Book in Theory and Practice conference. It showcases the generous donation of artists’ books from Ron King and the Circle Press, gifted to Special Collections and Archives … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Scandal and Sociability: New perspectives on the Burney family

19 October 2015

Frances Burney (1752-1840) was one of the most successful and influential writers of the eighteenth century, publishing four novels (Evelina: or, the History of a Young Lady’s Entrance into the World (1778); Cecilia: or, Memoirs of an Heiress (1782); Camilla: … Continue reading →

Exhibition: Wales in the Romantic Imagination

13 July 2015

Our latest exhibition is held in collaboration with Romantic Imprints: the 14th International Conference of the British Association for Romantic Studies, Cardiff University, 16-19 July 2015. The exhibition will run until September. Thomas Pennant (1726-1798) “… he’s the best traveller … Continue reading →