The Manuscripts and Rare Books Collection

Handwritten archive material from Bergen, Western Norway, and the whole world, collected from the time of Bergen Museum's establishment in 1825 to the present day. The material ranges in time from the Middle Ages to today. The collections comprise medieval charters and fragments, diaries, notes, letter collections, draft poems and local-history studies, and also include archaeological and discipline-history works.

The oldest printed books, the incunabula, are just one example of the rare books that are part of the Rare Book Collection.

Over the years, the University Library has received bequeathed gifts and purchased several book collections of great historical value, such as the Holberg collection, the Dickens collection and Claus Fasting's book collection, to name just a few. A full list of all the book collections is available at marcus.uib.no.

The extensive archive collections include, among others:

• The Theatre Archive tells the story of theatre in Bergen and Western Norway over more than 200 years. The archive is available to students, researchers, theatre institutions, journalists and others with an interest in theatre and the history of Bergen.
• Discipline-history archives. In 2009, the Special Collections section established a permanent service for collecting archive material relating to the history of disciplines and research from the academic communities at UiB. The aim is the preservation, documentation and availability of historically significant academic and research material from the academic communities at UiB.

• Maps: Historical maps from the 17th to the 20th century, including works by prominent Dutch cartographers such as Johannes Blaeu from the early 18th century.
• Plate works: Contains both printed works and hand-painted plates.
• Newspapers: A large collection of newspapers from Western Norway, both bound and on microfilm, in addition to a collection of illegal newspapers from the Second World War.
• Journals: Contains rare publications from the 18th century through to journals published during the Second World War.

Documents from the Manuscript and Rare Book Collection are continuously digitized and published on the display portal marcus.uib.no.

We digitize both on request and based on our own priority lists, but please get in touch if you have questions about this.

The books, plate works and the map collection are searchable in the library's database Oria.

In Marcus you can browse digitized documents: from the individual book collections, the map collection and plate works, which consist of both larger volumes and individual plates.

Handwritten documents and archives from individuals and associations and the like make up the Manuscript Collection. It is organized with running numbers, so-called manuscript numbers. The catalogue will in time be searchable in Marcus, but for now it is only possible to search the manuscript catalogue as a PDF file: The manuscript catalogue (PDF). All digitized manuscripts are on our website marcus.uib.no.

The Charter Collection is currently under revision and the oldest charters can now be seen together in Marcus.

The complete overview of the charters is found in the Charter catalogue (PDF), and there is also a revised catalogue of charters from the earliest times to 1570 (PDF).

An overview of primary sources from the Middle Ages is available in Marcus.

Fragments of medieval documents are found both in books and as independently registered documents.

The Special Collections receive archives relating to the history of disciplines and research from academic communities and academic staff at UiB. The material becomes part of the Manuscript Collection (see above), and digitized discipline- and research-history archives are published together on marcus.uib.no. Detailed overviews exist for many of these archives. If you have questions, get in touch.

The Theatre Archive's collections contain theatre programmes, posters, correspondence, sheet music, manuscripts, pictures, set designs, costume sketches and much more.

On marcus.no you can see the parts of the theatre archive we have digitized. Other parts of the archive we can digitize on request. Contact us by email if you have questions or wish to see something in the reading room: mslib@uib.no

The archive's content and scope

The collections today amount to around 570 shelf metres and comprise:

• Det Dramatiske Selskab in Bergen (1794–) Digitized content from Det Dramatiske Selskab
• Det norske Theater in Bergen (1850–1863) Digitized content from Det norske Theater
• Den Nationale Scene (1876–2017) Digitized content from DNS
• Komediateateret in Bergen (1933–1964). Digitized content from Komediateateret
• BIT Teatergarasjen (1984–2016) Digitized content from BIT

The Theatre Archive also contains material from Bergen independent theatre groups, school theatre activity and amateur theatres, all with the main emphasis on Western Norway.

The Theatre Archive is a unique body of archive material that documents the life cycle of a production, from the first correspondence and rehearsal work to premiere and subsequent reviews. In the collections we find director's and prompter's scripts with handwritten stage directions, lighting and sound information and much more. The clippings archive also contains reviews and notices of DNS productions right from the theatre's early years.

Until 2017, the Theatre Archive continuously received paper archives from DNS productions. The archive still receives supplementary theatre material from theatre institutions, both private and public.

• All users of reading-room material must register at the desk on arrival.
• The reading room is only open to users of Special Collections material.
• The material must be ordered in advance. This also applies to supplementary material.
• Outerwear, umbrellas and bags must not be brought in.
• Eating and drinking are not permitted in the reading room.
• The material must be handled with clean, dry hands or with gloves. Hands must be washed before handling the material.
• If the material is particularly fragile or valuable, the Special Collections staff may decide that it should only be handled by a conservator.

Only 3 folders/boxes per user are brought out to the reading room at a time. The user must open and review only one folder/box at a time to avoid mixing the contents of the folders.

The material read in the reading room is irreplaceable and must therefore be handled with the greatest care. This means:

• Only a pencil may be used as a writing tool. Writing tools with ink (markers, ballpoint pens, fountain pens, etc.) are not permitted in the reading room.
• A cushion, book snake, gloves, support or other aids must be used when needed.
• Do not make lines or marks in the archive materials.
• Never use archive materials as a support surface.
• Do not place charters, manuscripts or open bound materials on top of each other.
• Do not remove anything from the folders.
• Never attempt to change the order within the folders.
• Return the archive materials in exactly the same condition as when they were received, unless otherwise agreed.
• It is not permitted to take reading-room material out of the reading room.
• If you want copies of archive material, ask the reading-room attendant.
• Photography must be cleared with the reading-room staff in each individual case. The use of flash and photo lamps is not permitted. Regarding photography for publication, contact the academic unit that owns the material.

Each day, borrowed material must be returned with information about whether you have finished with it or wish to come back and continue using it. If such information is not given, the material is returned to the stacks and must be ordered again.

On Marcus, several digital exhibitions of various sizes are presented, placing the collections in a wider context.

Read about our collections in På Høyden!

For the Manuscript and Rare Book Collection, it is valuable that the collections are made topical through research and collaborative projects. There is scope for PhD candidates to carry out part of their compulsory work through work on the collections. In addition, the collections are also used actively in teaching.

200 years of Wonderful Science
A collaborative project between the University Library and the University Museum on the occasion of the 200th anniversary.

The Seal Project
The project on seals that started in 2021 deals with digitizing and building a database of all preserved seals associated with the Old Norwegian charter material at the Manuscript and Rare Book Collection (ManLib). The project also aims to establish a standard for encoding seals (TEI-xml) and to propose an international standard for relevant metadata.

ENG337
In the spring of 2021, master's students in English Literature from UiB's Department of Foreign Languages had the opportunity to participate in a collaboration between the department and the University Library's Manuscript and Rare Book Collection. The course, called "The Once and Future Book", allowed eight students to learn about the history of the book and how to use rare books in their research. A "hands on" collaboration between the Department of Foreign Languages with Julia King and the Manuscript and Rare Book Collection.

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Instagram: uib_ubbspes