A Collection of Published Residential College Histories
Posted by R. J. O’Hara for the Collegiate Way
16 May 2004 (collegiateway.org) — A people without history is not redeemed from time, T.S. Eliot reminded us, and neither is a college without history. The colleges of Oxford and Cambridge have been blessed with historians for centuries, and most if not all of them have been the subjects of monographic histories. The recent history of Clare College is a truly spectacular example, and I recommend it highly to all residential college officers. But what about the residential colleges of Australia, and Canada, and the United States, and all other countries?
I have begun to compile a preliminary bibliography of individual residential college histories (exclusive of Oxford and Cambridge), and I welcome additions from readers of the Collegiate Way. While some collegiate histories of this kind are “officially” published, many others are privately printed and intended for limited distribution. Much can be learned from all such histories, however, and they all deserve wider attention.
I’m sure there are many more college histories that are not included on my preliminary list. I would be grateful to any of you who can send me citations to additional works of this kind, or even copies for the Collegiate Way’s permanent collection. If you have electronic copies that you might like to have published on the Collegiate Way website, contact me and we can see what might be possible.
And if you’re a college master, dean, fellow, or friend, perhaps a history of your own college would be an ideal writing project for the summer months ahead…
