Major new donation to Library's collections

We are delighted to share news of a significant addition to the College’s collections.

For the past 35 years, a group of Unitarian chapels in South West Wales have cared for a remarkable collection of books on behalf of their congregations. As part of a recent project to secure the collection’s long-term future, chapel members listed more than one hundred volumes dating from the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries, in both Welsh and English.

Given Harris Manchester College’s strong connections to Unitarian and Dissenting history, the chapels approached us to explore whether some of the books might find a permanent home here. Following a review of the collection, we identified around forty eighteenth and nineteenth-century titles that will significantly strengthen our existing holdings. Several of these works are rare, and many fill important gaps in the Library’s collections.

^{College Librarian Kate Alderson-Smith (centre) with Nans Davies and her sister, Mair Potter, in the Tate Library with the newly acquired books.}

We are enormously grateful to the chapels for donating this material to Harris Manchester College. The generous gift reflects a shared commitment to preserving and making accessible the history of Unitarianism and religious Dissent for future generations. Particular thanks go to Nans Davies and her colleagues, whose enthusiasm, care, and dedication made the transfer possible. We were delighted to welcome them to College last week and thank them in person for their generosity.

We are deeply grateful to all those who choose to donate their books, archives, and treasures to Harris Manchester College. These donations help ensure that the history of Unitarianism and religious Dissent is preserved, studied, and shared. We look forward to making these new acquisitions available to readers and sharing more about them in the near future.