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Oxford
University Archives
History of the
Archives
The University has had records ever since it acquired a corporate
identity in the early 13th century. It seems that the University's archives
were first kept in St Frideswide's Priory before being transferred to the
Congregation House in St Mary's Church in the 14th century. There they were
stored in chests along with the University's cash and other valuables. When
the Congregation House was burgled in 1544 the archives, were left
scattered about and in utter confusion. Some were lost. They remained in a chaotic
state until the early 17th century when the antiquary Brian Twyne put them
in order. Twyne carried out most of the research in the Archives necessary
for the compilation of the new University Statutes (the 'Laudian Code')
which were approved in 1636; he also prepared the University's petition to
Charles I for the 'Great Charter' of the same year. He was appointed to the
newly created office of Keeper of the Archives in 1634.
 Twyne
and his successor in the office of Keeper, Gerard Langbaine, moved the
archives from the Congregation House to the room in the penultimate storey
of the Tower of the Five Orders in the Old Schools Quadrangle; wooden
presses, three of which are still in use today, were constructed to house
them. The Tower was built between 1613 and 1620 and it may be that it was
intended from the beginning to store the archives, but there is no direct
evidence for this. The accommodation was sufficient for the needs of the
Archives until 1854 when the top floor of the Tower was also assigned to
the Keeper. This room had been used for a variety of purposes including the
storage of powder and shot during the Civil War and astronomical
observations by the Savilian Professor of Astronomy; it is now the Archives
office. In the early 1970s further storage space was allocated to
accommodate the huge amount of modern documentation being produced by the
expanding University.
Keepers of the
Archives
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1634-44
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Brian Twyne
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1644-58
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Gerard Langbaine
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1658-1703
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John Wallis
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1703-26
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Bernard Gardiner
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1726-67
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Francis Wise
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1767-77
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John Swinton
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1777-81
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Benjamin Buckler
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1781-96
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Thomas Francis
Wenman
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1796-1815
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Whittington Landon
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1815-18
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James Ingram
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1818-26
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George Leigh Cooke
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1826-57
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Philip Bliss
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1857-85
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John Griffiths
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1885-1909
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Thomas Vere Bayne
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1909-27
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RL Poole
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1927-45
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Strickland Gibson
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1946-69
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William Abel
Pantin
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1969-85
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Trevor Aston
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1987-95
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Jeffrey Hackney
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1995-2000
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David Vaisey
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2000-
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Simon Bailey
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