skip to content
 

See the University Archives webpages for guidance on how to search for staff.  

 

For bequests, benefactions, gifts and endowments: John Willis Clark, Endowments of the University of Cambridge (Cambridge, 1904):  Available online, via the Internet Archive. 

Robert Willis and John Willis Clark, The architectural history of the University of Cambridge and of the colleges of Cambridge and Eton (Cambridge, 1886), 4 volumes: 

Volume I: Peterhouse, Clare Hall, Pembroke College, Gonville and Caius College, Trinity Hall, Corpus Christi College, King’s College and Eton College:

Available online, via the Internet Archive:  

Volume I  

Volume II: Queens’ College, St Catharine’s Hall, Jesus College, Christ’s College, St John’s College, Magdalene College, Trinity College, Emmanuel College, Sidney Sussex College, Downing College: Volume II 
Volume III: Schools, library, senate house, printing house, etc.: Volume III 
Volume IV: Plans Volume IV  
P. Guillebaud, ‘West Cambridge: the two World Wars and the inter-war lull’, Proceedings of the Cambridge Antiquarian Society XCVII (2008), pp. 179-193:  Available online, via Capturing Cambridge. 
D.J. Todd-Jones, ‘The University’s Estate Management and Building Service: its history and development’, Cambridge 25 (1989), pp. 76-82:  Via Cambridge University Estate Management Division.  
Earliest surviving of the University accounts: Proctor’s indenture accounting for the contents of the Chest at the annual transfer of office, 1363 (classmark: UA CUR 1.2.1a):   Digitised via CUDL 
Report of the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the property and income of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge (London, 1874):  Available online, via the Hathi Trust Digital Library. 

Cantabrigia illustratasive, Omnium celeberrimae istius Universitatis collegiorumaularumBibliothecae  Academicae …  (Cambridge, [1690]): a series of forty-four views of the principal buildings in the University and city, including Isaac Newton’s laboratory and garden, examples of academical dress, Great St Mary’s (the University Church) and the ancient Colleges:   

Available online, via the Internet Archive 
Cantabrigia illustrataDaniel Loggan’s 1688 map of Cambridge giving a bird’s eye view of the city and Colleges and a 1715 reprint of the same:  Digitised via CUDL: Daniel Loggan and Henry Overton 
Unrealised plan for laying out The Backs at Cambridge, presented by Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown in 1779 (classmark: UA P.I.3):  Digitised via CUDL 
List of Cambridge University officers and holders of special posts, with brief biographical details, complete to 2000:  Via ACAD: A Cambridge Alumni Database 

 

New Museums Site 

 

‘History of New Museums, 1716-1891': a collection of records assembled by John Willis Clark documenting the development of the old Botanic Garden site in central Cambridge (which came to be known as the New Museums Site) as a clearly defined physical space in the University for teaching and research in science subjects. Digitised and indexed via CUDL. 

 

For context on the history of the New Museums Site and the history of Cambridge Science, see this introduction from the project ‘The Lost Museums of Cambridge Science, 1865-1936'. 

 

The Cavendish Laboratory 

 

For the history of the Cavendish, including the Old Laboratory and the 1974 move to the West Cambridge site, seeDepartment of Physics: The History of the Cavendish. For photographs of people, equipment and events from the early history of the Laboratory up to about 1970, see CUDL 

 

The University Library 

 

Photographs and plans of the construction of the new library, designed by Giles Gilbert Scott and opened in 1934:  Digitised via CUDL. 
 ‘A Historical Sketch’ by J.C.T. Oates:  Cambridge University Library: History of the Library 
Charles Sayle, Annals of Cambridge University Library, 1278-1900 (Cambridge, 1916):  Available online, via the Internet Archive. 
Earliest surviving catalogues of the archives (1420) and the University Library (1424-40)in Inventories of books, records and other movable property of the University (classmark: UA Collect.Admin.4):  Digitised via CUDL. 
Early catalogues of manuscripts up to c. 1600 at the University Library:  University Archives subject guide. 
A series of blog-posts on the early catalogues of the University Library, by Dr James Freeman:   The early catalogues of the University Library: a new subject guide 
  Comings and goings: the movements of manuscripts at the University Library before 1600 
  The fluctuating fortunes of the University Library during the 15th and 16th centuries 
History and overview of the University Archives:  University Archives subject guide 

 

Cambridge University Press 

 

For a brief overview of the history of the Press, timeline and notable Cambridge authors, see the Cambridge University Press website and A brief history of Cambridge University Press (2014). 

 

The standard reference works – Michael Black, Cambridge University Press: 1584-1984 (Cambridge, 1984) and David McKitterickFour Hundred Years of University Printing and Publishing in Cambridge, 1584-1984 (Cambridge, 1984) – are not available in full online. An older history, S.C. Roberts, A history of the Cambridge University Press (Cambridge, 1921) is available online via the Internet Archive