For the most part, the manuscripts of the various Colleges are kept in the Libraries of the Colleges which own them, and application should be made to the College Librarian in each case, as early as possible before the intended visit.
The following collections are on deposit at Cambridge University Library.
Queens' College Archives
A significant proportion of the Queens’ College archives have been on deposit at the University Library since 1968. These records chiefly relate to the College’s foundation in 1447, its estates and household. The records include charters, statutes, deeds of title, estate papers, annual accounts, buttery books and court books from the fourteenth to the twentieth centuries. There are no student records.
The Queens’ College archives held at the University Library are not catalogued. However, a listing is available. The material can be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room. Access to some records is restricted for conservation reasons. For enquiries relating to this material, please contact: mss@lib.cam.ac.uk
Queens’ College itself retains a quantity of relatively modern material including Conclusion Books (from 1734), College reports, governing body minutes, tutors’ books, records of College clubs and societies, and personal papers of former members. For further information, please contact the College Archivist at Queens': archivist@queens.cam.ac.uk.
For further background information, see John Twigg, A history of Queens’ College, Cambridge, 1448-1986 (The Boydell Press, 1987), W.G. Searle, The History of the Queens’ College of St Margaret and St Bernard in the University of Cambridge 1446-1662, 2 volumes (Cambridge Antiquarian Society Publications, Vols. IX, 1967, and XIII, 1981) and the Queens’ College webpages.
Pembroke College Medieval Manuscripts
Since the 1960s, 312 of the manuscripts belonging to Pembroke College Library have been housed at the University Library. These are Pembroke MSS 1-250, 250A, and 251-311. These are mostly European medieval handwritten books containing texts in Latin and a range of vernacular languages, including Greek, Middle English and French, plus a small number of manuscripts written in Arabic. There are also some early modern European manuscripts. A new catalogue of the collection was recently published: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts of Pembroke College, Cambridge by Rod Thomson (D.S. Brewer, 2022).
From 2021, these have been joined by Pembroke College Library's collection of 989 manuscript fragments: these are mostly fragments of European medieval manuscripts removed from either Pembroke's manuscripts themselves or Pembroke's collection of early printed books, as well as the remains of a few bindings. These are now housed in a series of boxes and folders, bearing the classmark Pembroke MSS 312-330.
Pembroke's manuscripts and fragments can be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room, subject to the usual procedures for the reading of manuscripts. Readers are permitted to photograph Pembroke's medieval manuscripts for their own personal use and on the same terms as those that apply to the University Library's manuscripts. Please ask the Reading Room staff for further guidance.
Many of these manuscripts have original medieval bindings and must therefore be handled with great care. Some of these, and others in the collection, may be too fragile to consult. We recommend that you confirm that manuscripts are available for consultation prior to your intended visit by contacting the Reading Room staff (mss@lib.cam.ac.uk).
Please note that Pembroke's collection of post-medieval manuscripts (described by M. R. James in his 1905 catalogue, pp. 277-80) and other post-medieval items, together with the early printed books, are still housed in the College Library. Application to consult them should be made to the Pembroke Librarian.
A number of Pembroke's medieval and early modern manuscripts have recently been digitised in full. The images, together with detailed descriptions, are now available to view on the Cambridge Digital Library.
Peterhouse Medieval Manuscripts
The medieval manuscripts of Peterhouse were described by M.R. James in A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse (Cambridge, 1899). A new catalogue was recently published: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge by Rod Thomson (Woodbridge, 2016).
All but a handful of Peterhouse's medieval manuscripts are on deposit in the University Library. A new catalogue was recently published: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge by Rod Thomson (Woodbridge, 2016). The Peterhouse manuscripts are consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room, subject to the usual procedures for the reading of manuscripts. Photography of any kind is restricted. For further information, please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk.
Please note that Peterhouse's collections of medieval manuscript fragments, post-medieval manuscripts and music manuscripts remain at the college. Application to consult them should be made to the Perne Library.
A number of Peterhouse's medieval and early modern manuscripts have recently been digitised in full. The images, together with detailed descriptions, are now available to view on the Cambridge Digital Library.
Corpus Christi College
A collection of mostly 18th- and 19th-century Islamic and Sanskrit manuscripts belonging to Corpus Christi College are on deposit at the University Library. They are consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room, subject to the usual procedures for the reading of manuscripts. see the Asian & Near and Middle Eastern manuscripts page.
King's College Pote collection
For the Pote collection, owned jointly by King's College and Eton College, see the Asian & Near and Middle Eastern manuscripts page.
Other Colleges
The medieval manuscripts of Selwyn College and Ridley Hall have also been deposited in the University Library and may also be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room in accordance with the usual procedures. Descriptions of these manuscripts were published in N.R. Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, 5 vols (1969-2002), vol. 2, Abbotsford-Keele (1977), pp. 247-49, 255-58 and vol. 5, Indexes and Addenda (2002), p. 7.