University Archive

Agenda, minutes and papers of the Court, Council, Senate and Boards of the Faculties of the Yorkshire College and University of Leeds and their associated committees, sub-committees, groups, working parties, etc.

This section is divided into the following subsections:

• Bound and Signed Minutes
  Includes the signed minutes of the Yorkshire College Council and Committees of Council (1874-1904), Professors' Meetings (1874-1878), Academic Board (1878-1884), Senate (1884-1904) and Board of the Faculties of Science, Technology and Arts (1884-1904), followed by signed minutes of the Court, Council, Senate, and Boards of the Faculties of the University and associated committees (1904 onwards)
• Court and Committees of Court
• Council and Committees of Council
• Senate and Committees of Senate
• Joint Committees of Council and Senate
• Post-Jarratt Sequence
  Committees of Council and Senate established in a major reorganisation of the University committee system, following consideration of the recommendations of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP) Steering Committee for Efficiency Studies in Universities, under the Chairmanship of Sir Alex Jarratt (1984-85)
• Faculties and Boards of the Faculties
• Joint Committees of the University and 'External' Bodies
• Miscellaneous Committees including joint University/Leeds University Union working parties.

Material in this section is mainly organised under the headings of Registry records and Bursary records.

The Registry collection consists of records and statistics concerning student admission, registration, attendance, progress (including examination papers, mark sheets and pass lists) and graduation, dating from the first session of the Yorkshire College in 1874/75.

The Bursary collection consists of financial records of the Yorkshire College and of the University, including those relating to general College/University and departmental income and expenditure; capital and equipment accounts; appeal funds; donations and subscriptions; staff wages, salaries and superannuation; fees; scholarships, fellowships, trust and prize funds; etc.

A third substantial and important sequence of administrative records, also dating back to the beginnings of the Yorkshire College, are the papers of the former Planning Office, which was responsible for the administration of major building works, estate maintenance and minor works, and furniture and equipment.

Subsection-level records for this section are currently being added to the database and coverage is not yet complete.

Collections of material originating from and relating to individual schools, departments, centres, institutes, etc, each of which has a subsection record. Most academic units of the University are represented in this section, though to greatly varying extents. The most substantial collections (ie extending to more than 10 archival boxes each) relate to the following schools, departments and centres:

(Note: Where there have been changes of departmental name, later titles are indicated. Some material may pre- or post-date the formal establishment or closure of a department.)

• Adult Education and Extra Mural Studies (Continuing Education) covering dates from 1892
• Agriculture from 1892
• Chemistry (including Inorganic & Structural, Organic, and Physical Chemistry) from 1875
• Economics (Business and Economic Studies) from 1908
• Education (including the Institute of Education, 1948-76) from 1896
• Geology (Earth Sciences) from 1874
• History from 1925
• Leather Industries (Food and Leather Science) from 1890
• Medicine from 1831 (being the records of the Leeds School of Medicine, which became the Medical Department of the Yorkshire College in 1884 and the University of Leeds School of Medicine in 1904)
• Nuffield Centre for Health Services Studies (Nuffield Institute for Health) from 1959
• Physics from 1925
• Physiology from 1960
• Politics from 1955
• Public Health Medicine (Preventive Medicine; Community Medicine; including Health Visitor Education) from 1910
• Social Studies (Sociology; Social Policy and Administration) from 1926
• Centre for Television Research from 1958.

In addition ULITA (University of Leeds International Textile Archive) holds a substantial collection from the design department of the University.

Visit the ULITA online catalogue

The bulk of the records in this section relates to the University Library and the University Computing Service (now known as Information Systems Services).

Smaller subsections contain material relating to:

• Catering
• Cleaning Services
• Conference and Exhibition Facilities
• Counselling and Career Development Unit (CCDU)
• English Language Unit for Overseas Students
• Enterprise in Higher Education (EHE), Teaching and Learning Support Unit (TLSU), Work-Based Learning, and Office of Part-Time Education (OPTED)
• External Affairs (including University of Leeds Foundation; Press Office; Alumni Office; City and Regional Office)
• Mail and Telephone Services
• Printing and Audio-Visual/Media Services
• Reading Efficiency Unit
• Safety
• Student Health
• University Art Collection and Gallery
• University of Leeds Industrial Services (ULIS).

This section contains the following main subsections:

• Association of University Teachers (AUT) including sixty-one issues of the University Bulletin (January 1922-April 1928) and Universities Review (October 1928-September 1949), and papers relating to the AUT Leeds Local Association from 1938
• Staff House/Senior Common Room from 1925
• Staff Clubs and Societies including the records of the Yorkshire Society for Celtic Studies from 1928
• University of Leeds Ladies' Club from 1924

In addition, there are small subsections containing:

• Notices of Retirement and Testimonial Funds
• Senate Retirement Resolutions
• Dinner in Honour of Retiring Members of Staff
• Notices of Death and Memorial Service programmes
• Obituaries
• Miscellaneous News Cuttings.
  

Material in this section is divided into the following subsections:

• Leeds University Union
  There is an extensive collection of minute books, covering meetings of the Union Committee/Union Council (from 1919), Executive Committee (from 1932) and General Meetings (from 1940), and many other Union committees and student societies, including Finance Committee (1920-56), Rag (1949-75), Athletics (1928-84), Women's Representative Council (1902-39), Debating Society (1929-63), Dramatic Society (1929-42), Entertainments (1931-81), etc. Also contained in this subsection are Union handbooks, diaries and miscellaneous publications from session 1912/13 onwards, and a collection of material relating to student societies, including substantial holdings for the Agriculture Society (1899-73), Church of England/Anglican Society (1929-73), Dental Students' Society (1910-69) and Light Opera Society (1962-92)
• Halls of Residence including material on Bodington, Cavendish, College, Devonshire, Ellerslie, Lyddon, Charles Morris, Oxley, Sadler, Tetley and Weetwood Halls
• Convocation including minutes of the Annual Meeting and Standing Committee, from 1905
• Leeds University Old Students' Association
• Freshers' Conference
• Overseas Students (International Students)
• Careers Service (formerly known as the Appointments Board).

Material deposited by or on behalf of past and present members of staff, students or other individuals with close personal associations with the University. There are currently around 100 separate collections, ranging in extent from single items to several archival boxes. The material contributes to the record not only of formal teaching, learning, research and administration, but in many cases also reflects an individual's involvement in the wider social, cultural and recreational activities of the University, or with external professional bodies. The collections are arranged alphabetically by personal name and a summary record of each collection forms the subsection level entry in this section of the database. Examples of the more substantial collections are those including material relating to:

• The Rt Hon Lord Boyle of Handsworth (Vice-Chancellor, 1970-81)
  [Mainly papers of the Committee of Vice-Chancellors and Principals (CVCP), as described in Annex E.1, E.2 and E.3 of the document compiled by Miss M D McCreath in August 1982 titled "University of Leeds: Vice-Chancellor's Office: Papers Relating to Lord Boyle's Period as Vice-Chancellor: (Records kept by his Personal Assistant)"]
• Archibald Durward (Professor of Anatomy, 1936-64)
• Albert Hemingway (Professor of Physiology, 1936-67)
• Frank Maudsley Parsons (Urological Surgery/Renal Medicine, 1951-83)
• Leslie Norman Pyrah (Professor of Urological Surgery, 1956-64)
• Frank Smith (Professor of Education, 1933-47)
• Frederick William Spiers (Professor of Medical Physics, 1950-72).

Many collections of papers of individuals associated with the University are held by Special Collections, independent of the University Archive collection.

A collection of published material, including:

• Annual Reports of the Yorkshire College (1874/75-1903/04) and University of Leeds (from 1904/05)
• Calendars of the Yorkshire College (1876/77-1903/04), Victoria University (1888-1903) and University of Leeds (from 1904/05)
• Statements of Accounts from 1923
• Staff Handbooks and guides to administrative procedures
• General University, Faculty and Departmental prospectuses and student information
• Periodicals including the University of Leeds Review (1948-96), Gazette (1952-74), Reporter (from 1962) and Events sheet (1968-96), and incomplete runs of The Gryphon (1897-1961), Union News (1948-70) and Leeds Student (from 1970)
• Lists of Publications by Members of Staff 1927/28-1937/38 and 1950/51-1994, and Abstracts/Titles of Theses 1927/28-1970/71
• Register of Graduates 1904-80
• Public Lectures including Inaugural Lectures by new Professors (1959-69), Public Lectures on the Study of the Bible (1914-41), the Montague Burton Lecture on International Relations (1942-81), Selig Brodetsky Memorial Lecture (1961-81), and Albert Mansbridge Memorial Lecture (1963-97).

In addition there is a small collection of books and articles relating to the history of the University and of some of its departments, staff and alumni.

A collection of over 3,000 plans and drawings of University buildings and properties, ranging from the early development of the current site by the architect Alfred Waterhouse (from 1877), through the successive phases of development of the Lanchester and Lodge scheme (from the late 1920s onwards), to the Chamberlin buildings of the 1960s. Also included in the collection are plans and drawings of buildings located away from the central site, such as halls of residence. All plans and drawings relating to each named building, address/location or departmental occupant are grouped together and form the subsections of this section of the database. There are currently over 140 such subsections.

The Photographic collection is divided into ten subsections. The largest are:
 Staff individual portraits
 Academic Departments staff and student groups, and photographs illustrating the academic activity of departments
 Buildings exteriors and interiors.

In addition there are smaller subsections containing:

• Halls of Residence formal and informal student groups, and building exteriors and interiors
• Honorary Graduates including honorary degree ceremonies
• Lectures relating mainly to the Clive Behrens Lectureship in Agriculture, and some other named and endowed lectures
• Occasions including building foundation stone laying, topping out and opening ceremonies; conferences, exhibitions, dinners and balls; degree congregations; visiting dignitaries; etc
• Royal Visits
• Students including student societies, sports team groups, and Union committees
• University Government (Officers) including portraits of Chancellors, Pro-Chancellors, Vice-Chancellors, Pro-Vice-Chancellors, Registrars, Bursars and other senior office-holders, and Council and Senate groups.