The Ronchetti collection includes scrapbooks containing 900 photographic representations of children, childhood, dolls and play. The accompanying series of children’s literature, c.1879-1942, includes items with specific reference to dolls or to children playing with dolls.
All these items were gathered by the late Barbara Ronchetti, formerly the Special Collections Librarian at University of Birmingham. She had a scholarly interest in dolls and was a prominent member of the Worcester Doll Society.
The collection was deposited with the University of Worcester Research Collections by her brother-in-law, Mr Geoffrey Carpenter.
Associated with this collection is another smaller collection of books about dolls, doll's houses and other toys, deposited by several individuals, including John Marks.
The Talbot Guiding collection looks at Guiding from 1920s to the beginning of the 21st century.
The material includes:
Donated by Mrs Jean Tsushima, highlights from this collection include toys, puzzles, games and books that relate to the experience of childhood.
These items date from 1870 to 2012. A significant proportion of this collection is written in Russian and other languages.
The Williams collection comprises two principal series relating to the experience of childhood, beginning from the mid-19th century:
