:Roderic Bowen Library and Archive
{{Short description|Special collections library of University of Wales Trinity Saint David}}
{{primary sources|date=November 2022}}
File:Roderic_Bowen_Library.JPG
The Roderic Bowen Library and Archives (or RBLA), housing university archives and special collections,{{Cite web |title=Roderic Bowen Library and Archives: University of Wales Trinity Saint David |url=https://librarytechnology.org/library/63628 |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=librarytechnology.org}} is located inside the library building of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) Lampeter campus.{{Cite web |publisher=The National Archives |title=The Discovery Service |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/a/A13530835 |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk |language=en-GB}} The Lampeter campus is home to the oldest degree-granting institution in Wales, the former St David's College,{{Cite book |last=Price |first=D. T. W. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/3742391 |title=A history of Saint David's University College Lampeter |date=1977–1990 |publisher=University of Wales Press |isbn=0-7083-0606-3 |location=Cardiff |oclc=3742391}} and as such its Special Collections house significant information about the early history of higher education in Wales,{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1347364522 |title=Treasures: the special collections of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David |year=2022 |editor=John Morgan-Guy |isbn=978-1-78683-902-2 |location=Cardiff |publisher=University of Wales Press |oclc=1347364522}} alongside major donations from its founder the Anglican Bishop Thomas Burgess,{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/963565726 |title=Directory of rare book and special collections in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. |year=2015 |publisher=American Library Association |first=Karen|last=Attar |isbn=978-1-78330-148-5 |location=London |pages=523 |oclc=963565726}} and benefactors such as the East India Company surgeon and owner of enslaved people Thomas Phillips.{{Cite web |title=Summary of Individual Legacies of British Slavery:Thomas Phillips |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/25786 |access-date=2022-11-20 |publisher=UCL Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery}} The RBLA is named after Evan Roderic Bowen, Welsh Liberal Party politician, and president of the University of Wales, Lampeter, now part of UWTSD, from 1977-1992.{{Cite web |title=Roderic Bowen |publisher=National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts |url=https://archives.library.wales/index.php/bowen-roderic |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=archives.library.wales}}{{Cite DWB |title=Roderic Eva Bowen (1913-2001), Liberal politician and lawyer |id=s8-BOWE-ROD-1913 |access-date=2022-12-06}}
Collections of the RBLA
The RBLA includes the archives of St David's College Lampeter and Trinity College, Carmarthen,{{Cite web |last=Williams |first=Rowland |date=2018 |title=Catalogue of the records of the former teaching training college at Trinity College Carmarthen 1719-2005 |url=https://uwtsd.ac.uk/media/uwtsd-website/content-assets/documents/library-and-learning-resources/roderic-bowen/Trinity-Training-College-Archive-Catalogue.pdf |access-date=13 March 2023 |website=Catalogue of the records of Trinity College Carmarthen 1719-2005}} together with a major collection of 35 000 historic volumes.
The contents of the collections were originally donated by the founders and benefactors of St David's College, Lampeter. Thomas Burgess, the founder, donated his own collection of 9000 volumes, including a 13th century Bible,{{Cite web |title=WHELF's Treasures: The Lampeter Bible |url=https://whelf.ac.uk/whelf-sub-groups/special-collections-archives/whelfs-treasures/ |publisher=Wales Higher Education Libraries Forum|access-date=2022-12-06}} and a copy of Wynkyn de Worde's Legenda aurea, printed in 1498.{{Cite web |title=Collected Medieval Manuscripts|publisher=University of Wales, Lampeter |url=https://archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk/data/gb1953-cmm |access-date=2022-11-20}}{{Cite web |title=Bishop Thomas Burgess Collection {{!}} UWTSD |url=https://uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/a-z-list-of-collections/bishop-thomas-burgess-collection/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=uwtsd.ac.uk}}[https://uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/a-z-list-of-collections/bishop-thomas-burgess-collection/ /] Thomas Phillips donated 20,000 books, relating to a wide variety of disciplines, ranging from travel of all kinds to botany, medicine and history.{{Cite web |title=Thomas Phillips Collection {{!}} UWTSD |url=https://uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/a-z-list-of-collections/thomas-phillips-collection/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=uwtsd.ac.uk}} Dr Thomas Bowdler gave a major collection of 9000 17th and 18th century tracts and pamphlets, collected by three previous members of his family.{{Cite web |title=Bowdler Tracts {{!}} UWTSD |url=https://uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/a-z-list-of-collections/bowdler-tracts/ |access-date=2023-03-13 |website=uwtsd.ac.uk}} The treasures of the collection include two 15th century Books of Hours, a first edition of Gulliver's Travels (London, 1726) and a copy of the Abraham Ortelius atlas (1606), containing the first printed map of Wales drawn by Humphrey Llwyd (1606). The archive also houses important Celtic material, including a collection of 800 Welsh ballads, purchased by the college in 1904.{{Cite DWB |title=Evan Lorimer Thomas (1872 - 1953), priest and scholar |id=s2-THOM-LOR-1872 |access-date=2022-12-06}}{{Cite journal |date=2013 |title=Bulletin no.26 |url=https://historiclibrariesforum.files.wordpress.com/2017/09/1309.pdf |journal=Historic Libraries Forum |pages=8}}
File:Llanbedr_Pont_Steffan.jpg
Much of the contents of the current Special Collections were originally housed in the old university library, now known as the Founder's Library, in the St. David's Building. This was built between 1822 and 1827, for the then enormous sum of £21,000; from 1837, the library was extended to house the collections donated by Burgess and Phillips.{{Cite book |last1=Lloyd |first1=Thomas|last2=Orbach|first2=Julian|last3=Scourfield|first3=Robert|url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/71164002 |title=Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion |series=Buildings of Wales |pages=483–484 |year=2006 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-10179-9 |location=New Haven, US and London |oclc=71164002}} The Special Collections were moved to a new purpose-built research library in 2008; it was officially opened by Rhodri Morgan, First Minister for Wales.{{Coflein |desc=The Roderic Bowen Library and Archives, University of Wales, Lampeter |num=408669 |access-date=2022-12-06}} Unlike the collection's former home, the Roderic Bowen Library and Archives is climate and humidity controlled to preserve its contents.
In 2022, to celebrate the bicentenary of the founding of St David's College, the university published Treasures: The Special Collections of the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, a series of essays on some of the most important items held in the Roderic Bowen Collection, edited by John Morgan-Guy.{{cite web|url=https://www.cambrian-news.co.uk/news/cathedral-hosts-book-launch-to-celebrate-lampeter-universitys-bicentenary-566990|first=Dylan|last=Davies|title=Cathedral hosts book launch to celebrate Lampeter university's bicentenary|publisher=Cambrian News|date=6 October 2022|access-date=30 December 2022}}
Access to the RBLA
The RBLA is accessible to the general public by prior appointment, with materials being provided at the user's request.{{Cite web |title=Visitors' Guide {{!}} UWTSD |url=https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/visitors-guide/ |access-date=2022-11-20 |website=www.uwtsd.ac.uk}} Users can search for titles using the library catalogue [https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/library/ Primo] or the archive's catalogues while within the RBLA, or can pre-order materials via e-mail communication with the department.{{Cite web |title=Library Hub Discover - University of Wales Trinity Saint David |url=https://discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk/about/libraries/uwtsd.html |access-date=2022-12-06 |website=discover.libraryhub.jisc.ac.uk}} Students at UWTSD are able to access the RBLA at most times it is open and staffed; as with members of the general public, access to materials is provided on request.{{cite web |title=Archives and research libraries in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland |url=https://blog.royalhistsoc.org/2020/11/27/archives-and-research-libraries-in-the-united-kingdom-and-republic-of-ireland/ |access-date=30 December 2022 |publisher=Royal Historical Society}}{{Cite web |title=Role in Teaching and Learning|publisher=UWTSD |url=https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/rbla/role-in-teaching-and-learning/ |access-date=2022-11-20 }} The Special Collections are also used for university teaching; students are able to work on projects and dissertations using special collections materials.{{Cite web |title=The Somme (Student Archives Project) |url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/partnerships/mapping-the-centenary/projects/the-somme |access-date=2022-11-20 |publisher=Imperial War Museums}}
References
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External links
- [https://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/library/special-collections-and-archives Roderic Bowen Library and Archives official website]
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Category:Special collections libraries in the United Kingdom