Discover our Collections

Search for and browse material held by Special Collections and the National Fairground and Circus Archive (NFCA). 

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Our Special Collections and Archives encompass a broad range of subjects from twentieth century British drama and modern poetry, to early modern history and left- and right-wing politics. The NFCA have extensive collections covering popular travelling entertainment with a strength in fairground show family collections, circus, worlds’ fairs and expositions, as well as thousands of books and pamphlets.


Discover our Archive Material

Descriptions of archives held by Special Collections and Archives, the National Fairground and Circus Archive and the University Archives can now be searched using Discover Our Archives, our online catalogue.Discover Our Archives

A video on how to use our online catalogue can be found below:

Watch the video above, or see it in Kaltura: Discover our Archives


Discover our Printed Material 

The majority of our printed collections of books, journals and pamphlets can be found by searching StarPlus, the University Library's discovery platform.

StarPlus

An image of a colourful book from our Special Collections
Anansi Company: a collection of thirteen hand-made wire and card rod-puppets animated in colour and verse by Ron King and Roy Fisher. London: Circle Press 1992.

Discover our Digitised Collections

We have thousands of digitised items available to browse, explore and enjoy. New items are added on a regular basis and many of our images are available to download.  

Digital Special Collections

Digital National Fairground and Circus Archive

To assist you in your research, The National Fairground and Circus Archive also have research articles available:Digital Research and Articles


The University Archives 

The University Archives are managed separately by the Archive and Records Management Team. 

University Archives


Contact Us 

For enquiries about our collections, please email us: 

lib-special@sheffield.ac.uk

To book into our reading room, please visit Use our Collections page