About the Catalogue
The MCS Archive holds a variety of formats, including paper, parchment, photographs, audio and film, digital records, maps, antiquarian books and objects, including:
- Prints and paintings
- Administrative records dating from the 20th century and letters, diaries and other ephemera from the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Antiquarian books dating from 1518.
- Photographs of student and staff groups: year groups, sports teams, houses, teachers from c.1870 to the present. We hold a fine series of photograph albums from the 19th century on, as well as of professional and candid shots of school events such as drama and music productions.
- Films produced by and purchased by the school's Cine and Photographic Society, dating from 1930s-1970s.
- Audio oral histories were conducted with alumni and staff from the 2000s to the present. Digital films produced by the school for events date from the early 2000s to the present.
- Objects, such as scientific teaching equipment, uniforms and trophies, including an important collection of military objects relating to alumni, including Noel Chavasse, VC and Bar.
The Archive contains some content that may be difficult to view. Throughout the long history of Magdalen College School, it has preserved items produced in the course of its administration or by its members. As a result, some of the materials may reflect outdated, biased, offensive, and possibly violent views and opinions due to pervasive systemic intolerance. Where potentially offensive original language has been preserved in the description, it will appear in {} brackets {like this}. You are welcome to contact the Archivist for more information and/or if you come across descriptions which you find offensive: lmccormack@mcsoxford.org.
Items in the collection are open under the Freedom of Information Act, 2000, unless they contain information which falls under one of its exemptions: for example, sensitive personal data or commercially classified. The Archive also strives to preserve correct copyright attributions. If you are concerned about any of your personal data shared on the catalogue or your copyright, please contact the Archivist: lmccormack@mcsoxford.org. We will take down any content pending a discussion and review.
You can find out more about the history of the school here. There are some printed works about the school and school life:
Published works about the school:
- Magdalen School, A History of Magdalen College School, Oxford. Robert S Stanier. Oxford: Blackwell, first edition 1940, second edition 1958.
- Magdalen School: Five Hundred Years On. D L L Clarke, Oxford: Blackwell,1980.
- Magdalen College School. Laurence Brockliss. Oxford: Shire Publications, 2016.
- Mr Brownrigg's Boys: Magdalen College School and the Great War. David Bebbington. Barnsley: Pen & Sword, 2014.
- Education in Early Tudor England: Magdalen College Oxford and its School 1480-1540. Nicholas Orme. Leeds: Maney Publishing, 1998.
- The Path to Independence 1967-1987 by William Cook. Oxford: Magdalen College School, 2019.
Memoirs & Biographies:
- Seven Nines: A Boy's Wartime Story by Leo Goldschmidt. Privately printed in Brussels, 2005.
- Magdalen Schooldays 1917-1924 by Colin Hey, 1977.
- Goodbye Shirley: The Wartime Letters of an Oxford Schoolboy, 1939-1947 [Michael Hickey]. Edited and Narrated by David Bebbington. Surrey: Grosvenor House Publishing, 2019.
Contact
The Archivist is available two days a week during term time. The Art Archivist is available one day a week during term time (on maternity leave until May 2022). Both are happy to undertake short enquiries. Please enquire by email or letter. Access to the archive is by appointment.
Some records contain information which is personally and/or commercially sensitive, thus not available for consultation. Please contact the Archivist if you would like further information about these exemptions to the Freedom of Information Act, 2000.
Address for written enquiries:
Mrs Lindsay McCormack
Archivist
Magdalen College School
Cowley Place
Oxford
OX4 1DZ
E-mail address: lmccormack@mcsoxford.org
Mrs Meg Finnis (maternity leave until May 2022)
Art Archivist
Magdalen College School
Cowley Place
Oxford
OX4 1DZ
E-mail address: mfinnis@mcsoxford.org