Collection Research

Seven Stories aims to build a thriving research culture around our unique collection of archive materials and to help develop the study of children's literature in the UK. There are many potential research avenues into the collection, which includes holdings relating to a number of significant figures in children's literature, along with materials relevant to broader themes such as publishing, art and design, and social history. As the collection grows, further avenues for research continue to emerge.

Access to the collection for research is currently provided at the Special Collections Reading Room in the Robinson Library at Newcastle University. This resource is available to all researchers and it is not necessary to be a member of the University. Photocopying, reprographic services and a café are available at the Robinson Library.

To view items from the collection please search the online catalogues first. Then email collections@sevenstories.org.uk, or phone 0191 276 4289, giving the following information:

  • the title and reference number
  • when you would like to see them
  • your research interest and previous areas of study

Please give two weeks notice for us to make material available and note that access is subject to conservation requirements and Reading Room Regulations.

Seven Stories works closely with the Children's Literature Unit at Newcastle University. Three of the unit's PhD students are currently developing opportunities for research alongside their own areas of study. For further details see CLU student pages.

A researcher's perspective

Nolan Dalrymple is an AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Award student in the Children's Literature Unit at Newcastle University.

Working within an archive differs from research I have done up to this point (which has been mainly library-based) in a number of ways. The nature of the material encountered becomes much more significant, both in practical terms - since archival material requires various degrees of special handling - and in terms of its research value. The Robert Westall Collection has been central to my research: examining manuscript and typescript drafts of his novels has afforded me an insight into the process of creation which could not be provided by the published texts alone, sometimes revealing major revisions. Correspondence is another fruitful source of information; Westall's correspondence with editor Miriam Hodgson provides a great deal of information on the editing process, revealing both revisions made at Hodgson's instigation, and Westall's own thoughts on the texts, particularly in cases where he resisted editorial advice. The unique nature of the archive material means that it is impossible to predict what you will find, and my research direction has shifted several times in response to discoveries I have made in the collection.