University Archives
The University Archives are housed in the University Library and may be consulted in the Manuscripts Reading Room. They comprise surviving records of the administration of the University for a period extending from within fifty years of its establishment early in the thirteenth century to the present day. Access to a few of the most recent records is limited, for a term of years, to those with official authorisation.
A growing proportion of the catalogues of the University Archives are available to browse and search online as part of Janus, the internet resource for catalogues of Cambridge archives. In addition, for detailed lists of the holdings see D.M. Owen, Cambridge University Archives: a classified list, Cambridge University Press, 1988; H.E. Peek and C.P. Hall, The archives of the University of Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1962; and the card index in the Manuscripts Reading Room.
The list below shows the approximate dates at which major series of records begin:
- 1266 Royal charters, letters patent and other grants of privileges
- 1300 Deeds of title
- 1350 Statutes
- 1380 Assizes; leet jurisdiction
- 1460 Annual accounts
- Sporadic records of higher degrees
- Formal decisions (Graces) of the University
- 1500 Degree records
- Copies of formal letters from the University
- Probate jurisdiction
- 1544 Matriculations
- 1550 Vice-Chancellor's Court
- 1560 Royal letters and mandates; also letters from other State officials and other dignitaries to the University Jurisdiction at Sturbridge and Barnwell fairs
- 1580 Commissary's Court
- Relations with the town
- 1614 Parliamentary election returns
- 1700 University Press
- 1720 Elections to Professorships
- 1780 Minutes of Syndicates
- 1818 Lodging Houses Syndicate
- 1856 Council of the Senate minutes
- 1857 University Property Syndicate minutes
- 1882 Financial Board minutes and papers
- General Board minutes and papers
- Minutes and papers of Faculty Boards, Degree Committees, Appointments Committees, etc.
The University has had no policy of compulsory deposit of records by faculties or departments, so coverage is patchy in certain areas and at certain times. There are substantial, catalogued holdings for the University Press, the Botanic Garden, the Department of Geology, the University Appointments Board/Careers Service, the Course on Overseas Development and the Department of Education, but few areas are totally unrepresented.
The records of the constituent Colleges of the University are not part of the University Archives. With very few exceptions, historic records of the Colleges continue to be held by the Colleges themselves, to whom request should be made for further information and access.
Contact: Jacqueline Cox (01223 333147; jc10021@cam.ac.uk).