Manuscripts & Special Collections
Please note this event has already taken place and you are viewing an archived page of the Lakeside website.
For a list of current events, exhibitions and workshops, please click on 'What's On' in the menu above
Tuesday-Sunday, 12noon-4pm
Closed Mondays
Admission free
The University of Nottingham was a pioneer in providing education for working-class adults. In 1922, the University College appointed a professor of adult education – the first in the world. Two years earlier, it set up a department of adult education – the first in Britain.
Over the next 70 years, it worked with unions, employers, local councils and voluntary organisations, offering courses in workplaces and communities across the East Midlands. Many of its students and staff were leading figures in the labour movement locally and nationally.
Drawing on the records of the Workers’ Educational Association (WEA), University College Nottingham, the papers of Ken Coates and many others, this exhibition showcases how adult education enriches the lives and culture of ordinary – and extraordinary – people, and helps build a fairer and more democratic society.
Watch the video below to see Co-curator Dr Rebecca Moore discuss “St Ann’s: Poverty, Deprivation and Morale in a Nottingham Community”, the project carried out by the Adult Education Department in the 1960s that sparked a national debate about poverty.
Image: Photograph of a family in St Ann’s, Nottingham, from the Adult Education Department’s 1967 study ‘St Ann’s: Poverty, Deprivation and Morale in a Nottingham Community’. Photograph by Donald Cooper. MS 875/3/4/2
Please be aware that due to roadworks on the A52 you will not be able to reach Lakeside via the West Entrance, please use the North or South entrance and allow extra time for your journey as congestion is likely. We highly recommend using the tram service.