History & Heritage

Wolfson has grown and evolved over the past 50 years, retaining its founding President Sir Isaiah Berlin’s egalitarian ethos of being 'new, untrammelled and unpyramided’. The College officially became Wolfson College in 1966, when it was renamed in honour of Sir Isaac Wolfson, who contributed toward the College’s foundation.

In 1965, the University of Oxford founded Iffley College. Later the same year Sir Isaiah Berlin was invited to be the College's first President. Through his efforts, generous benefactions were received from the Wolfson Foundation and the Ford Foundation, which enabled the College to include graduate students. The first of these were admitted in October 1968.

The College's buildings, designed by architects Powell and Moya, were ready for occupation in 1974 and the College received its Royal Charter in 1981.

Learn more

Wolfson College Oxford – The First Fifty Years by John Penney and Roger Tomlin, gives a detailed account of the College's history and is available from the Lodge.

Isaiah Berlin Biography

College Coat of Arms

Wolfson & Oxford Tradition