Subject Guide: Geography: Archives and Special Collections

Geography as an Academic Discipline 

Geography began to appear as a subject at the university in around 1900, with BLitt students and those studying for the teaching qualification having the option of demonstrating their knowledge of it. It was established as a subject in its own right in Durham in 1928 with Gordon Manley as Senior Lecturer and first head of department, with Dorothy Sylvester as his then only colleague. Already Geography could be part of a BA degree or a BSc Hons degree. The syllabus for Honours students then comprised physical and general regional geography, cartography, geomorphology, climatology and oceanography, topographical surveying, anthropogeography, economic and commercial geography, history of geographical discovery and growth of geographical conceptions, and political and historical geography. The first chair in Geography was actually established in Durham’s King’s College in Newcastle in 1943 with George Daysh appointed. By the time King’s College became Newcastle University in 1963, the Durham department also had its own professor in William Fisher. 

This development of the subject and department of Geography in the university is reflected in the university’s own archive, in central, faculty and departmental files, in the records of the meetings of its various committees from Senate and Council down, in the exam papers, pass lists and mark sheets for the subject, and the university’s publications of such as the Gazette, Calendar, Journal, and Vice-Chancellor’s Reports, and newsletters and the like. The archive also includes reports of the university’s Exploration Society, to this country and especially the northern extremities of Scandinavia from the 1950s to the 1990s. 

The collections also include the papers of Gordon Manley (1902-1980), the first head of the Geography department in Durham for a while and a British climate meteorologist (also Add.MS. 851), and Roy Gazzard (1923-2016), Urban Geography lecturer who worked on developments at Peterlee and Killingworth, and in Uganda and Oman. Late 1960s Geography field trips feature in the photographic collection of former student John Bates within the Hatfield College archive, and late 1940s Geography lecture notes of former student Geoffrey Farlam are in the University College archive. 

The Howard Library and the Sudan Archive, both held by Durham University Archives and Special Collections are particularly well-endowed with geographical material. 

The Howard Library contains over 70 historical and geographical works, including accounts by G. Benzoni and J. da Costa on the New World. This is supplemented by the books of Ralph Waggett which include many historical accounts of travel in South America and other parts of the world. A significant volume of geographical works can also be found in Ushaw College’s Big Library, including a beautifully decorated copy of S.J. Philip Briet's Parallela geographiæ veteris et nouæ (Paris, 1648-9). 

The Sudan Archive contains numerous collections relating to the geography of the Sudan. Some of the collections relate to irrigation and its impact upon local communities, such as those of W.N. Allan, W.F. Crawford, and C.A. Willis, whilst others concern the geography of rivers and the impact of flooding, such as those of H.H. Austin and D. Lewis. 

The major estate collections in ASC have much detail on local communities and the management and development of the local topography of the North East, in the archives of such as the Bishop of Durham’s properties in the general archive, along with the specific Halmote Court material, and also Durham Cathedral, including their material returned from the Church Commissioners, and the Earls Grey. The Local Collection on open access in the Barker Research Library at Palace Green has many histories, often photographic, if localities within the North-East. 

Material relating to the study of weather and meteorology can be found in the University Observatory collection which includes local meteorological records up to c.1953. These can be supplemented by images of local extraordinary weather events, such as floods and snow, in the Edis and Fillingham’s photograph collections, and also in reports in the Local Collection’s newspapers, held on microfilm. Local family collections can also contain many comments on the weather in the correspondence of their members, such as the Baker Baker family in the later 18th century and the Headlam family in the 19th century.  

The papers of Gordon Manley (1902-1980), who was Geography head of department here for a while, contain some of his research material and publications relating to the historical records of British weather. In addition, the Thomas Wright manuscripts include weather diaries kept by Wright at Westerton, Hartlepool, and Bishop Auckland, Co. Durham, and tables of weather records for the Coventry area, 1724-1733, possibly based on observations of Henry Beighton. There are also some late 18th century farming diaries, accessible online, in the Ord of Sands Hall, Sedgefield, material which have details of the weather at the time. Further afield, the Oriental Manuscripts include a Taoist weather manual. 

There is an extensive range of maps held for the North-East of England and Cumbria which includes printed maps such as the various editions of Ordnance Survey maps at various scales, and manuscript maps such as the Diocesan set of tithe maps, and their awards, estate maps for the Bishop of Durham’s properties in the general archive, including some enclosure plans, and also the specific Halmote Court material, and various estate maps in Durham Cathedral Archive, including their material returned from the Church Commissioners. This Cathedral material also includes a number of the very rare phenomenon of original medieval maps. There are further maps in the Van Mildert papers (early 19th century printed maps), the Arthur Hedley maps (various 6” Ordnance Survey maps from around the country annotated with mining information), and the Gibson maps and plans (a solicitor’s collection of Co Durham maps, mainly the Bell surveyors), and the Additional Manuscripts sequence contains various examples of maps, including estate, railway and trench. Finally, the papers of W.D. Lowe (1879-1922, tutor and bursar of University College) contain many examples of the particular genre of WW1 sketch and trench maps. 

The Bamburgh Library of the 18th century Sharp family contains some notable early atlases, such as a 1638 edition of Mercator’s Atlas Novus, which can be paralleled by the early modern maps and atlases possessed by Ushaw College in its Big Library, such as a copy of Mercator’s 1635 Historia Mundi, and also in the Lisbon College Library there a copy of Mercator’s 1621 Atlas Minor. 

The Cosin manuscripts include an early travelogue, Sir John Mandeville's Itinerarium, written in France at the start of the 15th century (Cosin Ms V.i.10). The Howard Library contains early modern travel accounts from G. Benzoni and J. da Costa on the New World whilst the Bentley Beetham Collection records Beetham's interest in climbing and natural history, notably the Everest expedition in 1924. 

Other relevant collections include Bishop Cosin’s Library, the Winterbottom Collection, the Ralph Waggett Collection (books on travel in South America), the papers of Sophia Palmer, Comtesse de Franqueville (travel accounts around 1900 including to the Holy Land, the Wharton Papers (18th century Grand Tourists of Europe) and the Sudan Archive. The collections in the Sudan Archive contain an abundance of diaries and trek notes charting journeys across the Sudan and its neighbouring countries as well as journeys to Asia and the Middle East. Material relating to travel and exploration can also be found in the Ushaw College Big Library.