Open Doors, 12-13 September

On Saturday and Sunday Oxford Brookes is opening its doors to visitors for Oxford Open Doors, the annual weekend organised by Oxford Preservation Trust for local residents to explore their city.

The new John Henry Brookes Building on our Headington campus will be the main focus of the event, open on both Saturday and Sunday from 12pm to 4pm. There will be guided tours on the hour at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm to learn more about the award-winning architecture and sustainable design of the building, as well as the chance to look around the spaces in your own time. 

In the anniversary space in the Abercrombie Atrium you’ll be able to explore our interactive timeline and enter our history quiz. We’ll also set up a selfie space with period costumes so you can take a few snaps with an 1865 flavour. You should also make sure you pick up a free copy of our anniversary book and have a look at ‘Snapshot Relit', an artwork created from photographs of visitors to our 2014 Live Friday event.

A selection of historical documents and artefacts will also be out to view outside the Library in a display curated by Brookes' archivist. With items from several collecting themes, the exhibition will offer a glimpse of the wealth of materials held by Brookes as well as insight into the institution’s history – including its role in providing training for Oxford's printing industry.

Another fantastic way to learn more about our history is to go along to the performance of ‘Educating Oxford’ by Flintlock Theatre. The play was commissioned last year to celebrate Brookes’ anniversary. Anna Glynn, Co-artistic Director of Flintlock Theatre, drew on original sources to write the 30-minute play, making the most of students’ recollections, speeches, and the soundtrack of each generation. The performance is at 12pm on Saturday, and booking is essential.

In addition to these activities on campus, two Brookes academics will share their expertise with talks held at other venues. In line with this year’s Open Doors theme of ‘books, libraries and printing’, Angus Phillips, Head of the School of Arts and Director of the Oxford International Centre for Publishing Studies, will be speaking on ‘Turning the page – the evolution of the book’, at Blackwell’s in Broad Street on Thursday 10 September at 7pm. And on Sunday 13 September at 2pm Professor Gary Browning will give a talk on ‘Iris Murdoch – unity, difference and late modernity’ at St Anne’s College, where Iris Murdoch was a student.

For more information about events throughout the city this weekend, visit the Oxford Open Doors website.