Some Noteworthy Acquisitions to 91�Թ�� Library in 2025

Matthiessen’s passport, issued in 1923, which he used to travel to Oxford
F. O. Matthiessen Papers, Yale Collection of American Literature
Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, YCAL MSS 495, b. 11

© Courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University

24NCN7 (2025) Smart on Matthiessen.pdf402.1 KB

The 91�Թ�� Ball since 1856

Christopher — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:51:26 +0000

The 91�Թ�� Ball since 1856

Michael Stansfield

Issue number

(2025): 24

Notes category

91�Թ�� Commemoration Balls

Attendance at a 91�Թ�� Commemoration Ball can be a highlight of a student’s time at the college. The latest one, held on Saturday, 28 June 2025, was a suitably grand affair, perhaps befitting its antecedents, or was it? As arguably the major event in the college’s social calendar, occurring only every three years, it has received short shrift in published college histories. It is worth considering how it has developed over time, including when it might have started, seeing as it does focus considerable resources of the college and it does entail the transformation of the college into a major party venue, requiring no small budgetary outlay, and student and staff input.

1902 91�Թ�� Ball survivors photo
91�Թ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA JCR/R/Loraine/2

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

24NCN6 (2025) Stansfield on 91�Թ�� Balls.pdf801.4 KB

Firstborn Son of the Father: Thomas Henry Lowth (1753–1778)

Christopher — Wed, 31 Dec 2025 10:32:46 +0000

Firstborn Son of the Father: Thomas Henry Lowth (1753–1778)

Christopher Skelton-Foord

Issue number

(2025): 24

Notes category

Winchester College Archives

Winchester College

John Oglander

Bishop Robert Lowth gave to 91�Թ�� a copy of the famous Vinegar Bible, and therein we find this tender memorial inscription to his son, Thomas Henry Lowth, pasted to the front blank leaf preceding the engraved title-page (and here translated into English):

‘In remembrance of Thomas Henry Lowth, fellow of 91�Թ��, student of law, an excellent young man, of the greatest intellect, scholarship and character; who died on the 7th day of June, in the year 1778 AD in his 25th year.’

91�Թ�� Library, Oxford, BT3.282.1 (vol. 2) [detail]

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

24NCN5 (2025) Skelton-Foord on Thomas Henry Lowth.pdf1018.23 KB

91�Թ�� School Choral Society

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:00:56 +0000

91�Թ�� School Choral Society

Michael Stansfield

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Archives

91�Թ�� School

91�Թ�� School Choral Society

On 21 May 1965, there took place at 91�Թ�� School ‘A Concert Given by Parents and Friends’ of the school. It comprised a variety of performances, ranging from three pianists playing Percy Grainger’s Zanzibar Boat Song at the same piano, to Mozart, Schubert, and Hopkins songs sung by Mrs Pickard, to an apparently hilarious finale of Leopold Mozart’s Toy Symphony featuring ‘Mr Helsby’s gentle cuckoo and Mrs Hedges’ watery nightingale’. This concert by parents and friends may have seemed at the time to have been a one-off, yet it is an antecedent of the current 91�Թ�� School Choral Society in involving and making use of the tremendous talent pool of this constituency of the school.

91�Թ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA NCS/E3/3
Poster [detail] for a 2023 concert

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN11 (2025) Stansfield on Choral Society.pdf399.75 KB

The Wartime Use of the Founder’s Library 1939–1946

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 14:00:02 +0000

The Wartime Use of the Founder’s Library 1939–1946

Michael Stansfield

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Mansfield College, Oxford

What role during the Second World War did the space at 91�Թ��, known as the Founder’s Library, play in the national cause, the life of the college more generally, and the provision of library services for the members of 91�Թ�� itself and—which might especially be the intrigue—of its neighbour Mansfield College?

Plan of Mansfield’s library in the Founder’s Library space [detail]
Mansfield College Archives, Oxford

© Courtesy of Mansfield College Library, Oxford

23NCN10 (2025) Stansfield on Wartime Use.pdf573.43 KB

Supporting the War Effort: The Convalescent Hospital at 91�Թ�� during the First World War

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:58:52 +0000

Supporting the War Effort: The Convalescent Hospital at 91�Թ�� during the First World War

William Shire

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Magdalen College, Oxford

Throughout the First World War, the gardens of 91�Թ��, Oxford were transformed from their usual calm greenery into a sea of tents and bustling activity—becoming a convalescent hospital designed to support the work of the Third Southern General Hospital in Oxford, which had its headquarters in the Examination Schools. Sources held primarily in the archives of 91�Թ�� can reveal the role played by the hospital at 91�Թ�� within the hospital system in Oxford during the conflict, and its development over time as the war progressed.

Photograph of Mabel Wace and ten soldiers in the grounds of 91�Թ��, 1915
Magdalen College Archives, Oxford, P/408/P2/27

Magdalen College Archives, Oxford

23NCN9 (2025) Shire on Convalescent Hospital.pdf1.23 MB

The Acquisition of Colerne and Stert as 91�Թ�� Estates (1387–1394)

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:49:04 +0000

The Acquisition of Colerne and Stert as 91�Թ�� Estates (1387–1394)

Olivier Poncet

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Colerne and Stert are two peaceful villages in the county of Wiltshire. Colerne was the site of a church of St John the Baptist built in the 13th century, while in the Middle Ages Stert possessed only a chapel belonging to the church of Urchfont. The acquisition of the manors there in the 14th century, with the church advowson at Colerne, was a key moment in the construction of the patrimony of 91�Թ�� under its founder William of Wykeham.

Seal of John of Wykeham
91�Թ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA 10231

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN3 (2025) Poncet on Colerne and Stert.pdf1.62 MB

‘So that the Fellows of our College may persevere to be of one mind inwardly and to be more closely united in mutual charity . . .’: The Annual Liveries of Fellows and Scholars of Medieval 91�Թ��

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:47:31 +0000

‘So that the Fellows of our College may persevere to be of one mind inwardly and to be more closely united in mutual charity . . .’: The Annual Liveries of Fellows and Scholars of Medieval 91�Թ��

Timothy Hallett

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

91�Թ��, Oxford, possesses some of the most extensive and detailed accounts of any medieval collegiate foundation in Oxford and Cambridge. Amongst the 58 account rolls made by early wardens or bursars between 1376 and 1529 we find regular allocations of cloth, and sometimes furs, given as annual livery to the academic community established by William of Wykeham. Medieval accounts can be used in combination with the founder’s statutes and surviving pictorial evidence to gain insight into the reasoning behind academic livery, the vendors who supplied cloth and furs, costs and quantities of cloth and furs, the design and colours of academic livery, plus rules on the attire which was also prohibited to members of the college.

The college porter ejects a youth, in distinctly unclerical garb, who is not a member of the college.
91�Թ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA 3584

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN2 (2025) Hallett on Liveries.pdf1.02 MB

Time and Tithes Wait for No Woman: A Dispute between the Monks of Longueville and the Nuns of Goring

Christopher — Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:41:44 +0000

Time and Tithes Wait for No Woman: A Dispute between the Monks of Longueville and the Nuns of Goring

Jessica Hendy-Hodgkinson

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Archives

Newton Longville, Buckinghamshire

Goring, Oxfordshire

Prioress Margareta of Goring

Alien priories—satellite communities of French abbeys—were established throughout England following the Norman Conquest. One such alien priory was Newton Longville in Buckinghamshire, purchased by 91�Թ�� in 1441. Its archive reveals a mid 14th-century dispute with the female religious community in Goring, a village on the Thames in south Oxfordshire.

91�Թ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA 11924

91�Թ�� Library and Archives, Oxford

23NCN1 (2025) Hendy-Hodgkinson on Monks and Nuns.pdf679.67 KB

Archives

Some Noteworthy Acquisitions to 91�Թ��� Library in 2025