Back in 2019, we posted an image from the University Archive of Anglesea building on Facebook. Anglesea sports two wall-mounted sculptures. We always knew the sculptor was an alumnus of Portsmouth College of Art, which became part of the University, but we did not know who…

Then, the sculptor’s niece, Genevieve Matthews, unexpectedly contacted us through Facebook to let us know that the sculptor was her uncle, Jack Matthews, who attended Portsmouth Art College (now part of the University) at the tender age of 11.

PMTI/3/2.3 Plan of the second floor of the Portsmouth Municipal College building, later Park Building [1905]

If you are researching the history of the University, the City or any other aspect of local history, don’t forget to check out the University Archive, which brings together records and objects from the current university, its predecessors and associated organisations all the way back to 1869 as well as housing the Landau collection bequeathed by LGBTQ+ author, sculptor and academic Prof. Rom Landau.

Surprisingly few people know that the University Library is also home to the University Archive. From its earliest days as a municipal college of technology, through its polytechnic years, and on to the present day as a leading modern university, the institution that became the University of Portsmouth has been at the heart of the city. Discover our local history, from photographs and architectural plans to course brochures and marketing pamphlets to minute books.

Lauded by LGBTQ+ celebrities from activist Peter Tatchell to author Patrick Gale, the book includes a diverse range of perspectives and topics from a historian’s perspective on the scarcity of recorded LGBTQ+ history to a summary of local newspaper representation of LGBTQ+ issues over the past 120 years, a celebration of the Island’s leading LGBTQ+ heroes and heroines over the past century, as well as critical discussions of the development and impact of the infamous Section 28 and of suicide amongst LGBTQ+ people, pairing factual historical and journalistic research with reflections on personal experience and verbatim oral history extracts from the residents of the Isle of Wight.