20thC history

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 �㽶ֱ��, 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 �㽶ֱ�� 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 �㽶ֱ�� during the First World War

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

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

William Shire

Issue number

(2025): 23

Notes category

Magdalen College, Oxford

Throughout the First World War, the gardens of �㽶ֱ��, 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 �㽶ֱ�� can reveal the role played by the hospital at �㽶ֱ�� 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 �㽶ֱ��, 1915
Magdalen College Archives, Oxford, P/408/P2/27

Magdalen College Archives, Oxford

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

Austria-Hungary during the First World War: German-Language Material in the Seton-Watson Collection at New College Library, Oxford

Christopher — Mon, 29 Jul 2024 18:33:51 +0000

Austria-Hungary during the First World War: German-Language Material in the Seton-Watson Collection at New College Library, Oxford

William Shire

Issue number

(2024): 21

Notes category

Robert William Seton-Watson

Seton-Watson Collection

First World War

Austria-Hungary

20thC history

Bequeathed to �㽶ֱ�� by our alumnus R. W. Seton-Watson (1879–1951), the Seton-Watson Collection at �㽶ֱ��, Oxford is rich in German materials of great interest to researchers, Austria-Hungary being a particular strength. The collection contains a wide variety of both primary and secondary source materials, ranging across rare newspapers, books, and pamphlets.

Gyula Andrássy, Wer hat den Krieg verbrochen? (Leipzig: S. Hirzel, 1915)
New College Library, Oxford, SWP45

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

21NCN6 (2024) Shire on Seton-Watson.pdf1.52 MB

�㽶ֱ�� MCR: The 60th Anniversary

Christopher — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 01:27:28 +0000

�㽶ֱ�� MCR: The 60th Anniversary

Michael Stansfield

Issue number

(2023): 20

Notes category

On Tuesday, 7 March 2023, �㽶ֱ��’s Middle Common Room (MCR) celebrated the 60th anniversary of its establishment with an exhibition of significant items from the archives in the Conduit Room, a reception in the Founder’s Library, the distribution of appropriate stash (including some rather natty appropriately branded scarves), speeches from the Warden and the President Emily Jin, and dinner in Hall. The anniversary was worth celebrating because, as in so many areas, �㽶ֱ�� had rather led the way in recognising and providing for what is now a major and vital part of its community whose genesis is worth exploring.

Plan of the site between Longwall Street and the city wall that became the Sacher Building [detail]
�㽶ֱ�� Archives, Oxford, NCA BUR/BCF/205

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

20NCN9 (2023) Stansfield on MCR.pdf344.56 KB

Collecting

Christopher — Fri, 29 Dec 2023 00:59:16 +0000

Collecting

Christopher Skelton-Foord

Issue number

(2023): 20

Notes category

Recently I acquired for New College Library’s collections a first edition copy of The Collector, the debut novel by �㽶ֱ�� alumnus John Fowles (1926–2005), which sixty years ago in 1963 launched his spectacular career as a writer. First published in May 1963 by Jonathan Cape of London, the copy I acquired bears the iconic original dustjacket with a trompe-l’œil design by Tom Adams (1926–2019), who also created the artwork for paperback editions of Agatha Christie’s novels. Moreover, this particular copy was signed by Fowles.

John Fowles, The Collector (London: Jonathan Cape, 1963), dustjacket
New College Library, Oxford, NC/FOW

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

20NCN8 (2023) Skelton-Foord on Collecting (Fowles).pdf947.96 KB

The Russo-Japanese War on the Shelves of New College Library

Christopher — Thu, 31 Dec 2020 01:45:51 +0000

The Russo-Japanese War on the Shelves of New College Library

Alexander Morrison

Issue number

(2020): 14

Notes category

Richard William Alan Onslow, Earl of Onslow

David Mann

We have rich collections in New College Library on the Russo-Japanese War, thanks largely to two important 20th-century bequests: that of Mr David Mann (Modern History, 1956), and of diplomat Richard William Alan Onslow, Fifth Earl of Onslow (Modern History, 1895)

New College Library, Oxford, Mann248

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

14NCN7 (2020) Morrison on Russo-Japanese War.pdf459.25 KB

�㽶ֱ��’s Irish Airman

Christopher — Tue, 18 Dec 2018 16:18:10 +0000

�㽶ֱ��’s Irish Airman

Joseph Conlon

Issue number

(2018): 10

Notes category

20thC history

W. B. Yeats

Robert Gregory

10NCN9 (2018) Conlon on Gregory.pdf315.69 KB

Jane Austen First Editions: Aves and the Sparrow

Christopher — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:50:36 +0000

Jane Austen First Editions: Aves and the Sparrow

Christopher Skelton-Foord

Issue number

(2018): 09

Notes category

Library Antiquarian

Jane Austen

John Hanbury Angus Sparrow

New College Library holds first editions of four of Jane Austen’s novels. This very good fortune the library owes to two �㽶ֱ�� men, born thirteen years apart: one still very renowned today, especially in Oxford circles; the other did not live long enough ever to be so. Both also have in common remarkable soldierships in the Second World War.

New College Library, Oxford, BT3.2.1

New College Library and Archives, Oxford

9NCN9 (2018) Skelton-Foord on Jane Austen.pdf648.69 KB

Dennis Potter: An Unconventional Dramatist

Anonymous — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 10:14:36 +0000

Dennis Potter: An Unconventional Dramatist

Jason Morgan

Issue number

(2017): 08

Notes category

�㽶ֱ��

20thC history

Dennis Potter

8NCN7 (2017) Morgan on Potter.pdf560 KB

Three Letters from Stanley Casson to Francis Henry Taylor, 1932

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Oct 2014 15:40:52 +0000

Three Letters from Stanley Casson to Francis Henry Taylor, 1932

William Poole

Issue number

(2014): 05

Notes category

Archives SCR/B/Casson

5NCN9 (2014) Poole on Casson.pdf238.6 KB