Surveyors of Norwich.
Architect, Fen Ditton, Cambridge.
A society of ten 'Gonville men' under a President and committee, whose purpose was to gather and lounge by the gate of Humility in order to 'observe how strange creatures ye Lord hath made'.
Random years, dependent on students willing to organise the Committee.
Gonville and Caius College Archive is the intended repository for the preservation of records which reflect or illustrate the history of the College and its members. The Archive is committed to documenting, and providing long term access to those records considered to be of enduring legal, financial and historical significance.
HISTORY OF THE COLLEGE
The College is a corporate body consisting of the Master and Fellows; in addition to which are the members of the College the scholars, research students and exhibitioners. The College is part of the University of Cambridge, but was founded as, and remains, a distinct and autonomous body in its own right.
The College was founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, Rector of Terrington, under the authority of letters patent from Edward III. In 1353 his executor, William Bateman, Bishop of Norwich, consolidated Gonville's foundation, providing endowments and statutes, and moved it from its original site, now part of Corpus Christi College, to a site adjacent to his own foundation, Trinity Hall. Bishop Bateman renamed it the Hall of the Annunciation of the Blessed Mary the Virgin, though it continued to be commonly called Gonville Hall. The original community of Gonville Hall, consisting of a Master, Fellows and a small number of other students, gradually acquired endowments to support itself and buildings to house its work. The College's buildings, including a chapel, a hall and a library as well as accommodation for members of the College reflected its functions as a place for a common life of study and prayer.
After a period of decline, the College was refounded in 1557 by John Caius as Gonville and Caius College, M.D., a former student and Fellow of Gonville Hall, under the authority of letters patent from Philip and Mary. Dr Caius provided further endowments for fellowships and scholarships, as well as extending College buildings. He also laid down a new set of statutes for governing the College, and a scheme for corporate record-keeping. By 1630 the College had expanded considerably, having about 25 fellows and 150 students, but during the unsettled times that followed, numbers declined and did not recover their 1630 level until 1840, after which expansion was rapid. Expansion made extension of College buildings a necessity - a larger Hall and a new Library were built 1853-4, and new residential buildings in 1868-70, 1901-4, 1934 and 1962. Between 1860 and 1926, the College's endowments and statutes were reformed as a result of government appointed University Commissions; while teaching and research became specialised, professional pursuits. In 1979, the College admitted women to its fellowship and student body for the first time.
HISTORY OF THE ARCHIVE
The College has kept its own records since its foundation in 1348. Traditionally, College records were kept in the Treasury; initially, a strong room adjoining the College Chapel, which is now part of Master's Lodge. This reflected the importance of the Chapel as a centre for the transaction of College business. During building alterations in 1717, the Treasury was moved to a room above the Gate of Virtue; and with the construction of the Waterhouse building 1868-70, a further move was planned - to the tower above the Great Gate. However, this plan was amended and the Treasury eventually found a home in the Bursary strongroom and basement, where it stayed until 1996. The Treasury became an increasingly unsatisfactory location for the Archive; providing insufficient space for ever expanding holdings, and inadequate protection from flood and infestation. An additional room, originally provided as an office for the archivist in 1989, rapidly became an overflow store for modern administrative records; and the Archive had no dedicated reader or exhibition space. Thus when the College acquired the use of the Cockerell Building, a nineteenth century Grade I listed building, a strong case was put for the removal of the Archive to a new facility, alongside the Library and Computer Office. The resulting facility, which was ready for occupation by Summer 1996, provides the Archive with a high standard of storage, staff, reader and exhibition space.
In 1955, the College appointed Catherine Hall as its first part-time professional archivist. Mrs Hall worked primarily upon providing better physical conditions for the Archive and to produce more detailed documentation about College estates. Anne Neary was appointed as the College's first full-time professional archivist in 1989. It was during her tenure, that the Archive expanded its remit. Foundations were laid for a modern records management system; and records from other sources, which illustrated the life of the College, were added to the administrative records produced by the College. For the first time, the Archive was also able to take in donations of personal papers of Caians, previously the remit of the College Library. Ms Neary also took responsibility for the College's art collection, as Deputy Curator of Portraits. The Archivist reports to the College Records Committee, convened by the College's historian, Professor C.N.L. Brooke.
CONTACTING THE ARCHIVE
The Archivist is pleased to answer questions regarding the holdings of the Archive, and the conditions of their use. She can be contacted by
post: Trinity Street, Cambridge, England CB2 1TA.
telephone: 01223 332446
email: archive@cai.cam.ac.uk
Additional information is also available via the College website at www.cai.cam.ac.uk
Photographer, London.Caian.
Photographer, Cambridge