Research

Our archives contain unique primary sources which offer scope for academic research across disciplines and at various levels. We are keen to collaborate on research projects drawing on our collections and can provide support and guidance on developing proposals. Our collections are available to search and explore on our online catalogue. If you are interested in finding out more or want to discuss research ideas related to our collections, please contact the archive archives@rhul.ac.uk 

Examples of research activity related to archives and special collections: 

• Research into governors of Royal Holloway and Bedford Colleges: a resident MRes student has researched the attendance of early governors at Women’s colleges including Bedford College and Royal Holloway. 

• Bedford 175 anniversary doctoral placement research project: This culminated in the creation of a digital exhibition ‘Adventurers All’ which delved into the Archives and Art Collections at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College to shine a light on the various journeys that were undertaken by former Bedford students, staff, associated artists, and the college itself: https://stories.royalholloway.ac.uk/4690a254-514c-44a2-aa9a-9934a9f4a5f3/index.html 

• Elizabeth Jesser Reid letters digitisation and transcription project: A quantity of correspondence belonging to Elizabeth Jesser Reid, the founder of Bedford College, were digitised and made available on a dedicated website. There is an ongoing project to transcribe the Victorian handwritten letters to uncover conversations held between Mrs Reid and her close circle and open further research opportunities involving the letters: https://ejrletters.omeka.net/  

• Oral History testimonies from alumni: MA Public History students collected oral history recordings from alumni between 2016 and 2019. The recordings are held digitality by the archive.