Guide to Archive Collections
This page gives a brief outline of our collections. For more detailed descriptions, visit our searchable on-line catalogue.
Institutional Records
Bedford College papers (1849-1985)
Founded in 1849 by Elisabeth Jesser Reid, Bedford College was the first
college in Britain to make provision for the university education of
women.
Royal
Holloway College papers (1876-1985)
Royal Holloway College was founded as a women's college by the patent
medicine manufacturer, Thomas Holloway (1800-1883). It opened in 1886.
The two colleges merged in 1985 to form Royal Holloway and Bedford New College (now known as Royal Holloway, University of London.) The records of the new college will also be deposited in the Archives
The Records include:
- Minute Books of the Governing Bodies and major Committees of the two colleges
- Papers of administrative and academic departments
- College publications including calendars, magazines and prospectuses
- Student records, including Registers of Students and individual student files
- Staff records, including individual staff files
- Papers of staff/student bodies
- Records of student societies including debating, drama and sports
- Reminiscences and diaries of former students and staff
- Plans and papers relating to the design and construction of Founder's Building and the Regent's Park premises
- Documents relating to the purchase and care of paintings in Royal Holloway's Picture Gallery
- Advertising material relating to Thomas Holloway's pills and ointments
- Press cuttings
- A substantial collection of photographs of the colleges, their staff and students
Personal Papers and Special Collections
The Archives hold over 50 sets of personal papers of individuals associated with the Colleges. Many of these chart the experiences of women who broke new ground. Our personal papers include:
- Elizabeth
Jesser Reid (1789-1866)
Founder of Bedford College, anti-slavery activist and philanthopist - George
Martin-Holloway (1833-1895)
Married Sarah Anne Driver, the sister of Thomas Holloway's wife and was closely involved in the foundation and building of Royal Holloway College - Professor
Margaret Benson (1859-1936)
Head of Botany Department, Royal Holloway College, 1893-1922 - Professor
Caroline Spurgeon (1869-1942)
English Literature Department, Bedford College, 1901-1929 (Head of Department from 1913), first woman to be elected to a Chair by the University of London and first President of International Federation of University Women, 1920-1924 - Professor
Elizabeth Blackwell (1889-1973)
Head of Botany Department, Royal Holloway College, 1922-1949 - Professor
Edna Purdie (1894-1968)
Professor of German, Bedford College, 1933-1962 and member of Senate of University of London, 1950-1962 - Daphne
Atkins (1896-1961)
Research scholar in Zoology, Bedford College, 1915-1929 - Dame
Lillian Penson (1896-1963)
Head of History at Bedford College 1930-1962, and Vice-Chancellor of the University of London 1948-1951 (the first female Vice-Chancellor of a Commonwealth university) - Professor Kathleen Tillotson (1906-2001) Lecturer in English at Bedford College 1939-1971, Hildred Carlile Professor from 1958.
- Professor Samuel Tolansky (1907-1973) Professor of Physics, Royal Holloway College, 1947-1973
- Professor Helen Cam (1885-1968) Lecturer in History, Royal Holloway College, 1912-1926.
- Hilda Murray (d.1951) Lecturer in English and Germanic Philosophy, and Secretary of Staff, Royal Holloway College, 1899-1915
- Professor Sir William McCrea (1904-1999) Chair of Mathematics, Royal Holloway College, 1944-1966, Honorary Fellow from 1984. Knighted in 1985.
- Professor John Smith (d.1985) Professor of Chemistry, Bedford College, 1949-1970
The Archives also hold a number of special collections covering a variety of subject areas. These include:
Papers of Sir Alfred Sherman, advisor to Margaret Thatcher. Further information on the Sherman papers and their access and use is available here.
Records of the Gay Sweatshop Theatre Company (1974-1995) Administrative, financial and production records, including photographs, posters and programmes, from this controversial and successful company.
Records of the Half Moon Theatre Company (1972-1990) Administrative, financial and production records, including material relating to the building of the new theatre, from one of the most influential left-wing London theatres.
See more details
on material in our theatre collections
Reference Books
The following texts are available for reference in the Archives and in the College Library. Copies of the major college histories may be purchased from the College shop, or by mail order. Please contact us for details.
The History of Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges:
E. Bennett and C. Salt (ed), College Lives: Royal Holloway and Bedford
New College, University of London (1986).
L. Bentley, Educating Women: A Pictorial History of Bedford College,
University of London 1849-1985 (1991).
C. Bingham, ' "Doing something for women", Matthew Vassar
and Thomas Holloway' in History Today, 36 (1986), pp.45-51.
C. Bingham, The History of Royal Holloway College 1886-1985 (1987).
J. Chapel, Victorian Taste: The Complete Catalogue of Paintings at
the Royal Holloway College (1982).
J. Elliott, Palaces, Patronage and Pills. Thomas Holloway: His Sanatorium,
College and Picture Gallery (1996).
A. Harrison-Barbet, Thomas Holloway: Victorian Philanthropist (1994).
M. Moore (ed), Royal Holloway and Bedford New College, University
of London: Centenary Lectures 1886-1986 (1988).
L. Pike (ed), Sybil Barker's War: The Wartime Diary of a Director
of Music and Organist at the Royal Holloway College (University
of London) (1989).
M. Tuke, A History of Bedford College for Women 1849-1937 (1939).
R. Williams, Royal Holloway College: A Pictorial History (1993).
Women and Higher Education:
C. Dyhouse, 'Storming the citadel or storm in a tea cup? The entry of women into higher education 1860-1920' in S. Acker and D. Warren Piper (eds), Is Higher Education Fair to Women? (1984), pp.51-64.C. Dyhouse, No Distinction of Sex? Women in British Universities 1870-1939 (1995).
J. Howarth and M. Curthoys, 'The political economy of women's higher education in late nineteenth and early twentieth century Britain' in Historical Research, 60 (1987), pp.208-231.
G. Sutherland, 'The movement for the higher education of women: its social and intellectual context in England c1840-1880' in P. Waller (ed), Politics and Social Change in Modern Britain: Essays Presented to A.F. Thompson (1987), pp.91-116.
G. Sutherland, 'The plainest principles of justice: the University of London and the higher education of women' in F. Thompson (ed), The University of London and the World of Learning 1836-1986 (1990), pp.35-56.