The Queen to open new home for University’s archive
Her Majesty The Queen, accompanied by His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh, will officially open the new £19m home for the University’s Special Collections archive next week (Thursday 31 October).
The Keep
Fiona Courage, Special Collections Manager, will show the Queen the University's Special Collections archive.
The Queen unveiling the Foundation Stone in the Library in 1964.
The Royal Party will visit The Keep, a new historical resource centre for the University of Sussex, East Sussex and Brighton & Hove, which will open to the public next month.
Fiona Courage, Special Collections Manager, will show The Queen the Special Collections archive, which includes rare papers and original manuscripts of the writers Rudyard Kipling and Virginia Woolf and the Mass Observation diaries.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Michael Farthing, said: “The University of Sussex is proud to be a partner in creating this remarkable new resource for the region. It is a fitting home for our internationally-acclaimed Special Collections. This will open up even wider access to this unique material and enhance the leading research and scholarship we sustain at Sussex for the future.”
Located across the road from the University’s campus at Falmer, the Keep has been built over the past year and is designed to offer state-of-the-art storage for archives.
Her Majesty's Lord-Lieutenant for East Sussex, Peter Field, said: “The Keep now houses the history and heritage of our County and I am sure that Her Majesty and His Royal Highness will be extremely interested to view some of the items, and really pleased to meet staff and volunteers.”
Leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, Jason Kitcat, said: "I am delighted that The Queen is coming to Sussex and will be opening the Keep. The completion of this outstanding resource for the city and East Sussex is a reason for celebration in itself. The Keep is a wonderful public facility and I’m very proud that Brighton & Hove City Council is one of the partners in this development.”
For more information about the Keep, go to the East Sussex County Council website.
Until now, the Special Collections had been housed in the University’s Library, which was opened by the Queen nearly 50 years ago, in 1964.