Student Research Rooms in HCA

Today’s blog post is a guest post from Clare Wilson, SRR Co-ordinator, about the superb book collections available to staff and students from HCA in the Student Research Rooms.

Here at Edinburgh University in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA), we are fortunate to have the Student Research Rooms (SRR). This is a busy study space that is home to ten book collections. These collections have been bequeathed by important figures in HCA’s history and are continuing to grow.

Three photographs showing the interior of the Student Research Rooms in the School of History, Classics and Archaeology at the University of Edinburgh.

Among the individuals who have made valuable donations is Jim McMillan, a previous Head of School. As a European historian and researcher of modern French history, he was a pioneer in women’s and gender history. The SRR is also home to the Sellar and Goodhart collection, named after two of Edinburgh’s most influential Classics professors. The Jim Compton collection is an American History compendium of some 2,000 books and boasts some of the only known copies of publications of its kind in Scotland. Continue reading

Student Research Rooms: fantastic resource for History, Classics and Archaeology

Today’s blog post is a guest post from Aimee Fletcher, SRR Co-ordinator, about the superb book collections available to staff and students from HCA in the Student Research Rooms (SRR).

At the School of History, Classics and Archaeology (HCA) we are fortunate to have our Student Research Rooms (SRR). This is a space which is not only a study space, it is also home to the School’s personal book collections. All of these collections are vast and have come from significant academic figures, personal collections which were donated to the school, and have continued to flourish thanks to the tradition of donating books.

Upper floor of Student Research Rooms, Doorway 4, Teviot Place. © Aimee Fletcher

Within some of these collections are books with have been passed down by important figures of HCA’s history at Edinburgh. Individuals such as Jim McMillan, a European historian and previous head of the School; the Sellar and Goodhart collection, which is named after two of Edinburgh’s most influential classics professors and Jim Compton whose American history collection of 2,000 books boasts some of the only known copies of certain publications of its kind in Scotland. The collections we have are unique and are looked after and made available to borrow by twenty volunteers who are found at the volunteer desk on 2M (10am-6pm, Monday-Friday).

You can find out more about the collections and the books within these from Student Research Rooms (SRR). Continue reading