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College archive

The College maintains a small archive consisting mainly of administrative materials dating back to around 1885 when the Cambridge Training College for Women Teachers was founded.

The current (incomplete) listing of the College’s archives is an annotated version of a list originally prepared in 1989, most recently revised in 2001. The original list was deposited in the National Register of Archives.

It should be noted that the materials provide limited insight into the daily life of the Cambridge Training College or, until relatively recently, its successor institution Hughes Hall. There are also some gaps, especially from 1949 until the mid-1970s. In particular, holdings include very limited information concerning Miss Elizabeth Hughes, the first principal, or her celebrated pupil Miss Tetsu Yasui, former president of Tokyo Christian Women’s University.

Those interested in such matters are referred to the principal published materials:

  • Bottrall, M., Hughes Hall 1885-1985 (Cambridge, 1985).
  • Hirsch, P. and McBeth, M., Teacher Training in Cambridge: the Initiatives of Oscar Browning and Elizabeth Hughes (Woburn, 2004).
  • Lambert, J., ‘Hughes and Japan’, Hughes Magazine, 21 (2014), 26-7.
  • Martin, G., with an afterword by S. Squire, Hughes Hall Cambridge 1885-2010 (London, 2011).

An ongoing project is attempting to catalogue Library holdings which have been in the collection since the days of Cambridge Training College. A list of the titles so far identified is available on iDiscover, our online catalogue.

Accessing the collection

Accredited scholars are welcome to consult the College Archives by appointment. Please contact College’s Honorary Archivist at archives@hughes.cam.ac.uk.

The College reserves the right to make an administrative charge for the provision of access, and authorised copying will be charged at an appropriate fee rate and may require the granting of a licence.

A book given to Elizabeth Hughes by her students on her retirement.