The College Archives

Opening hours 

Tuesdays, 9am-5pm
Thursdays (and some Wednesdays) 10am- 2.30pm
Researchers are welcome by appointment, please email: archives@wolfson.ox.ac.uk

Papers and publications

The College Archives holds a variety of material relating to Wolfson's history, including administrative documents, architectural drawings, photographs, recordings and ephemera. We also hold copies of College publications. Our holdings include:

• Minutes of all College meetings and related documents (current College members can access a number of past and present papers online on the College's SharePoint website: Single Sign-On needed)
• Papers for College clubs and societies
• Documents related to College finances and building projects
• College publications: The College Record (1978 on), the College magazines, Lycidas (1972-1988: this was until 1978 effectively an early version of the College Record) and Romulus (1988 on), the College Newssheet (1978 on), other publications, such as the College List (first published in 1972); College Guide (1975 on) and its successor, the College Handbook; and College Regulations.

The Archives does not hold student records, or, generally, personal papers. However, we do have some papers relating to Sir Isaiah Berlin's relationship to Wolfson (Berlin was the College's first President, from 1966 to 1975). We also have some from the Haldane family (Professor JS Haldane's home, Cherwell House, once stood on the College's site), some unpublished material by Sir Ronald Syme on Greek history; and the H.B.D. Kettlewell Archive (though this is currently housed in the Bodleian Library). Visit our Kettlewell Archive page.

Photographs, recordings and more

We hold a variety of photographs and other types of images depicting events in the College's history, and of the College buildings, as well as of some club activities, such as the Boat Club. We have an incomplete set of matriculation photographs, from 1989: offers of copies of earlier photos would be especially welcome.

We also have recordings of Wolfson College lectures from the 1970s onwards. A list of these is available.

A number of these are available on CD (these CDs may be borrowed by current College members).

Other Activities

The Archives team put on regular displays to complement lectures and talks. We also organise termly lunches for  "Old Wolves", for those with memories of the College in earlier days (new "Old Wolves" are always welcome, please contact the Archivist for information: archives@wolfson.ox.ac.uk). Information about Old Wolves' events may be found on the Old Wolves' web pages. 

Further reading

Wolfson College, Oxford: The First Fifty Years, John Penney and Roger Tomlin (Wolfson College, Oxford 2016)

Isaiah Berlin: Building: Letters 1960-1975, Henry Hardy and Mark Pottle (Chatto & Windus, 2013). [Contains sections on College history.]

Liz Baird (Archivist) / 19.3.2019