Collection K/PH - PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: King's College London records

Key Information

Reference code

K/PH

Title

PHOTOGRAPHS AND ILLUSTRATIONS: King's College London records

Date(s)

  • [1720]-2004 (Creation)

Level of description

Collection

Extent

19 archive and photographic boxes

Scope and content

King's College London photographs and illustrations constitute an invaluable record of students, staff, College buildings and events from the opening of the College until the present day, 1829-2000. They consist of loose, framed and mounted, or album portrait photographs of a number of academic and non-academic staff, including Principals, Deans, College Secretaries and senior teaching staff such as Heads of Department of most departments and faculties, with some additional support staff such as porters, [1850-2000]; colour and black and white photographs of interior and exterior views of King's College London Old Building in the Strand, including entrances to King's in the Strand and Embankment, Great Hall, Main Entrance Hall, Engineering, Wheatstone and Biological Laboratories with equipment, anatomy dissecting rooms, departmental libraries, Common Rooms, Lecture Halls, King George III Museum, Council Room, individual floors of Old Building and floor plans, [1880-1980]; mainly black and white photographs and slides of the interior and exterior views of Halls of Residence including Halliday Hall, Lightfoot Hall and Wellington Hall, [1970-1990]; mainly black and white photographs and slides of sights around the Strand and King's College, including frontage of houses adjacent to the Strand entrance to King's, the Old Watch House, Somerset House, river Thames, St Clement Danes and St Mary-le-Strand churches, Westminster and Waterloo Bridges, aerial views of King's and surrounding buildings, [1890-1990]; photographs of Day Training College including laboratories, teaching and common rooms, [1917]; photographs, drawings and postcards of the College Chapel including organ, stained glass, altar, entrances and services, 1859-[1980]; photographs showing redevelopment at King's including post- World War Two repairs and extension to Wheatstone Laboratories into car park, various stages of the construction of the Strand Building, [1949-1972]; photographs of the College Library (Strand site) including the Skeat and Furnivall Library, showing issue desks and individual rooms, 1954-1987; photographs and drawings of other buildings connected to King's, principally the Hospital in Portugal Street, Macadam Building, Chelsea scenes such as Lightfoot Hall and Chelsea College, and Cornwall House, [1850-1980]; mainly photographs but also some drawings of events at King's, notably including a cartoon of the duel between the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Winchilsea in Battersea Fields, 1829, visits by dignitaries including Prince Albert and Queen Elizabeth II, College outings, sporting events, inspections of troops, anniversary events, exhibition displays, dinner engagements, leaving parties, graduations, Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives Annual Lectures, launch of new institutes and departments, portrait painting unveilings, with some Chelsea College events, 1829-2000; photographs of King's during World War Two, notably air raid preparations, students and staff, including during the relocation of King's to Bristol University, 1939-1943; group photographs of students and staff in various departments and faculties, mainly King's College for Women, Theology, Laws, Science and Arts, with some few cricket, football, rowing, hockey and other sports' teams, 1906-[1977]; student rags and events involving the College mascot, Reggie the Lion, [1920-1939]; roll of honour for World War One, with photographs of war memorial, 1914-1918; drawings and photographs of College seal, plaques and coats of arms; negatives of King's illustrations and photographs, with portraits, letters, cartoons, some staff and interior shots, 1929-1980

Accruals

Regular accruals are being made.

System of arrangement

Arranged mainly into portraits, buildings and events, and divided into framed photographs, exhibition displays, loose photographs and albums, and plans.

General Information

Name of creator

(1829-)

Biographical history

Conditions governing access

Open, subject to signature of Reader's undertaking form, and appropriate provision of two forms of identification, to include one photographic ID.

Conditions governing reproduction

Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied from open material for research purposes only.

Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Archives.

Language of material

  • English

Script of material

Finding aids

Draft catalogues of photographs and illustrations are available online and in hard copy in the Archives reading room.

Uploaded finding aid

Related materials

Photographs of students, staff and social events are also located within the records of a number of College departments and faculties. These most significantly include the departments of History, Classics, Geology and Biophysics, which include diffraction photographs of the DNA helix and of early DNA pioneers such as Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins. Many student files also contain passport-size photographs of the student concerned. The records of Chelsea College, Queen Elizabeth College, King's College Hospital and the Nightingale Institute in the King's College Archives contain discrete series of photographs and illustrations. Many individual private papers contain photographs, drawings and illustrations, particularly those concerned with the history of science and medicine, and collections within the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, with many examples of maps, photographs of service personnel and military equipment.

Related descriptions

Alternative identifier(s)

Genre access points

Rules and/or conventions used

Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000.

Script(s)

Archivist's note

Sources: King's College London catalogues. Entry compiled by Geoff Browell.

Accession area