Hertford College Archives
Accessing the collections
Our College Archives are open to all researchers, whether academics, students or private individuals. Most of our records are available for consultation, however, we reserve the right to restrict access if the condition or nature of the records requires it. Enquiries may be made by letter, telephone or email, or you can send a message relating to specific records via our online catalogue. We are happy to answer most enquiries free of charge. If your enquiry is more detailed or time consuming, we will talk to you about visiting in person or making arrangements for the research to be carried out by a third person.
Catalogues and finding aids
The core archive collection was catalogued in 1985 and a typescript version of this catalogue is available in the archives office. All the information in this list has been uploaded to our Online Catalogue. We regularly update descriptions and add new records for recently acquired material to the catalogue, but it will not contain descriptions of all our holdings, so do also ask the archivist about other relevant material.
Enquiries may be made by letter, telephone or email. Please note that the Archivist works two days a week and that it may take up to two weeks to answer enquiries. The Archivist is happy to answer enquiries free of charge; however, we cannot undertake detailed or time-consuming research for individual enquirers. If this is likely to be the case please talk to the Archivist about visiting the Archives in person or making arrangements for the research to be carried out by a third person.
Visiting the Archives
We are often able to answer enquiries remotely & supply images; however we also welcome researchers who wish to consult the Archives in person. Researchers should make an appointment in advance by contacting the Archivist, so that we can book a reading room and retrieve records ahead of your visit. Please bring one form of photo ID such as a University Card, Passport or Driving License. We’ll ask you to complete a visitor form on arrival.
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Planning your visit
The Archives are open to the public by prior appointment only on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 10.00am to 4.30pm throughout the year. Please contact Dr Lucy Rutherford, Archivist at Hertford College, Catte Street, Oxford, OX1 3BW. You can call 01865 279356 (voicemail available out of hours) or email archives@hertford.ox.ac.uk.
Please plan your visit well ahead, so that we have time to order material back from our off-site storage and book reading room space. Do ask the archivist about your research – they will be able to tell you more about the records that you are interested in, especially if these haven’t been catalogued in detail. They can help with unfamiliar names, difficult handwriting and the significance of particular dates or events. They may also know of other related collections or material in other libraries & archives that might be useful for your area of research.
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Transport and parking
Please note that parking in central Oxford is very limited and that there is no parking available at the college. Visitors are strongly advised to use public transport or the Park & Ride scheme to travel to Oxford. Hertford is a short taxi drive or a 15–20 minute walk from the train and bus station. View a map on our Visit Us page.
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Accessibility
For visitors with any additional needs, please contact the archivist in advance so that we can help plan your visit. In particular if you have mobility problems or difficulty in using stairs please let us know in advance so that we can book an accessible reading room.
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Handling archival material
All archival material should be handled carefully and in accordance with our Document Handling Guidelines. In particular researchers should not eat or drink near archival material. Visitors will be reminded of the handling guidelines and any necessary equipment such as pencils, book rests and weights will be made available. Please come prepared to use pencils or a laptop rather than pens or biros to make notes. If an item is too fragile to be handled we will consider making a surrogate version such as a photograph or scan available.
See also the videos on the National Archive YouTube channel about handling different document formats: Handling Archival Collections – YouTube.