See the University Archives webpages for guidance on how to find alumni and staff. Some of the main resources for tracing alumni are available online:
| John and J.A. Venn, Alumni Cantabrigienses from the earliest times to 1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1922-54): | Available online as ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database |
| A.B. Emden, A biographical register of the University of Cambridge to 1500 (Cambridge, 1963): | Available online as ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database |
| John and J.A. Venn, The book of matriculations and degrees: a catalogue of those who have been matriculated or been admitted to any degree at the University of Cambridge from 1544 to 1659 (Cambridge, 1913): | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| J.F.E. Faning, The book of matriculations and degrees: a catalogue of those who have been matriculated or been admitted to any degree at the University of Cambridge from 1851 to 1900 (Cambridge, 1902): | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| Registers of Girton and Newnham Colleges, 1869-1900: | Available online as ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database |
| Cambridge University Calendar (Cambridge: University of Cambridge, 1796-1973/4): the first systematic attempt to record the academic calendar with lists of officers and posts, prizewinners, tripos lists and College members: | Various years (not a complete sequence), available online via the Internet Archive and the Hathi Trust Digital Library. |
| J.R. Tanner (ed.), The historical register of the University of Cambridge, being a supplement to the Calendar with a record of University offices, honours and distinctions to the year 1910 (Cambridge, 1917): for lists of University officers, holders of established posts (with brief history of foundation and endowment of posts), lists of those awarded University scholarships and prizes, tripos lists for 1748-1910: | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| The historical register of the University of Cambridge: Supplement, 1911-20 (Cambridge, 1922): updates of holders of posts, tripos lists and prizes, plus list of advanced students (research students), and honorary degrees, 1882-1920, and titular degrees, 1859-1920: | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| The historical register of the University of Cambridge: Supplement, 1921-30 (Cambridge, 1932): updates to lists and new section entitled ‘Changes in the University’ to reflect the new statutes: | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| G.V. Carey, The war list of the University of Cambridge 1914-1918 (Cambridge, 1921): | Available online, via the Internet Archive. |
| A.C.M. Croome, Fifty years of sport at Oxford, Cambridge and the great public schools (London, 1913-22) in three volumes: | Volume I (Athletics, cricket and rowing, and biographies of Blues in these fields) only, available online via Hathi Trust Digital Library. |
Note that for the period after c. 1965, student data is held centrally by the University’s Student Registry: https://www.student-registry.admin.cam.ac.uk/.
Honorary degrees
There is no single source listing all honorands. The historical register of the University of Cambridge: Supplement, 1911-20 (Cambridge, 1922) provides a list of honorary degrees, 1882-1920, and titular degrees, 1859-1920. Updates can be found in subsequent supplements of the Register (available online to 1930 only).
For an overview of the process at Cambridge and selected recent honorands, see: About the University. For a historical overview, see: M. Heffernan and H. Jons, ‘Degrees of influence: the politics of honorary degrees in the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge, 1900 – 2000', Minerva 45 (2007), pp. 389-416. Available online via Loughborough University repository.