Libraries Week 2022
Libraries Week is an annual event held to celebrate the best that libraries have to offer. This year, Libraries Week takes place between the 3rd and 9th of October and will focus on the vital role libraries play in supporting individuals of all ages to access lifelong learning.
As part of Libraries Week, Edinburgh Napier Libraries and the University’s Special Collections are offering tours of the War Poets Collection led by our Special Collections Curator, Laura Cooijmans-Keizer.
War Poets Collection
It was at Craiglockhart War Hospital during the First World War, that Wilfred Owen (1893-1918) and Siegfried Sassoon (1886-1967) first met and where some of their greatest poetry was inspired and written. As a tribute to these and other WWI poets, the University established the War Poets Collection in 1988, on the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice. Since then, the collection has grown to include other histories, incorporating items from the building’s first establishment as a Hydropathic – the predecessor of a modern Spa – up to its current use as a campus of Edinburgh Napier University.
If you’d like to come along and learn more about this fascinating collection, Laura will be providing 30-minute tours of the War Poets Exhibition at Edinburgh Napier University’s Craiglockhart campus on the 6th and 7th of October. The exhibition provides a glimpse into the daily lives of the poets, patients, and medical staff at Craiglockhart during the time when the building was used as a war hospital. The collection features contemporary photographs, books, film, audio, and memorabilia, and offers visitors a unique insight into the important personal, social, and medical achievements that occurred within the walls of Craiglockhart War Hospital.
Book a tour
To book a place on one of the tours visit our Training and Events Calendar.
You can read previous blog articles on the War Poets Collection:
The Poet and the Doctor, Craiglockhart War Hospital 1917 (War Poets Collection)
War Poets Collection: Remembering Siegfried Sassoon
Visit our website to find out about all our Special Collections.
By Sarah Jeffcott
