Introduction to the Brookes Special Collections
Tuesday June 30th.

Oxford Brookes Special Collections houses collections on art and architecture, publishing and church history. This talk for Brookes Society members will give a short introduction to these and then focus on the Steve Hare Collection of Penguin Books.

Steve was an Associate Lecturer at Brookes and amassed a collection of over 10,000 books, including 3,000 Penguin books published between 1935 and 1970. The founder of Penguin, Allen Lane, aimed to produce cheap and readily available books in large numbers. The Collection reveals developments in production, design and branding over the years.

It is hoped that members will meet each other over tea in the Student Forum between the two events.

Date and Time: Tuesday June 30th 2.00-2.45 p.m.

Room: the Special Collections Reading Room is in the basement of the Library in the John Henry Brookes Building, level -1

Charge: None

Maximum number of people: 40

Availability to non-member partners / spouses: priority will be given to Brookes Society members to attend the talk, because of the room number limit 

Disability access: fully accessible

Please book through: Maggie Wilson at mavowilson@aol.co.uk  by June 23rd    

Possible visit to the Mini/BMW Plant in October 2026.

We are looking at a possible visit to the BMW mini plant in October 2026. There are a number of restrictions (for good reason it is a working factory) and minimum numbers.

Group tours are possible for up to 15 people per tour (Accompanying persons count as well). The price is per group. This would be approximately £18.00 per person. Can members let Hilary Currie know if this is of interest to members hcurrie038@gmail.com