Group Visits
Information to help you plan and book your group visit
Overview
Bringing your group to one of our hands-on sessions can provide an inspiring learning experience for learners of all ages. You’ll have the opportunity to get close to objects, books and other material usually kept behind glass. Encountering museum objects in this way creates a rich learning environment that fosters discussion, debate and engagement.
Whether you’re looking for a session to develop analytical and critical thinking skills, inspire curiosity and fire the imagination, or just for pleasure, we can work with you to create a session to meet your needs.
What we offer
Each of our sessions is tailor-made for your group. We hold over 100 archives and collections and we’ll work with you to select the most appropriate items. Some examples of popular sessions include:
- Artists’ Books (techniques, materials, structure and narrative)
- Photobooks (examples from the 1960s to the present day)
- Graphic Design (layout and typography from our archives and Book Design Collection)
- Zines (DIY aesthetic, types of content)
- Childhood and family (exploring changing attitudes to childhood)
- Victoriana (material from across our archives and collections)
- Folklore and fairy tales (books from our Children’s Collection and Book Design)
- Concrete Poetry (examples from our Artists’ Books and Book Design Collections)
- Place Writing and Nature Writing (examples from our Book Design Collection)
- New Materials and Processes Collection (exploring innovative materials such as mycelium and processes such as 3D printing)
- Manchester and the City (examples of books, objects and archives relating to Manchester and its history)
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Our dedicated teaching space is located within the Special Collections Museum, on the 3rd floor of the All Saints Library. We can accommodate groups of between 5-20 people, depending on the nature of the session and the material selected. Sessions are usually between 1-2 hours long.
There are lockers for the secure storage of coats and bags and we ask everyone to wear disposable, non-allergenic gloves while they are handling the material. Sketching (pencils only) and photography (for educational and research purposes)are permitted.
The space is adjacent to our Gallery so a session can easily be combined with a visit to the current exhibition.
