All Souls College Library
![External view](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/98/UK-2014-Oxford-All_Souls_College_02.jpg/250px-UK-2014-Oxford-All_Souls_College_02.jpg)
![Internal view](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/The_Codrington_Library%2C_All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford_1.jpg/250px-The_Codrington_Library%2C_All_Souls_College%2C_Oxford_1.jpg)
![Map](https://maps.wikimedia.org/img/osm-intl,14,a,a,250x200.png?lang=en&domain=en.wikipedia.org&title=All_Souls_College_Library&revid=1239733884&groups=_3f81e237bf7a3b0778fdd07061c121bbf9721112)
Gaye Morgan (Librarian in Charge & Conservator)
All Souls College Library, known until 2020 as the Codrington Library, is an academic library in the city of Oxford, England.[1] It is the library of All Souls College, a graduate constituent college of the University of Oxford.
The library in its current form was endowed by Christopher Codrington (1668–1710), a fellow of the college who amassed his fortune through his sugar plantations in Barbados, an island in the British West Indies. These were worked by enslaved people of African descent.[2] Codrington bequeathed books worth £6,000, in addition to £10,000 in currency (the equivalent of approximately £1.2 million in modern terms).[3] The library, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, begun in 1716, was completed in 1751 and has been in continuous use by scholars since then. It is Grade I listed on the National Heritage List for England.[4]
The modern collection comprises some 185,000 items, about a third of which were produced before 1800.[5] The library's collections are particularly strong in Law, European History, Ecclesiastical History, Military History, and Classics. There is an expanding collection devoted to sociological topics and the History of Science.[5] Unusually for an Oxford college library, access to the Codrington is open to all members of the university (subject to registration).[6] The library contains a significant collection of manuscripts and early printed books, and attracts scholars from around the world.
The first woman to be admitted as a reader to the library was Cornelia Sorabji from Somerville College, at the invitation of Sir William Anson, 3rd Baronet in 1890.[7]
Renaming
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Codrington_slavery_plaque_1.jpg/220px-Codrington_slavery_plaque_1.jpg)
In November 2020, the college took the decision to stop referring to the library as the Codrington Library, as part of a set of "steps to address the problematic nature of the Codrington legacy", which derives from exploitation of slave plantations. While the library has since been renamed, a statue of Christopher Codrington remains in the center of the reading room. [8]
References
- ^ Simmons, John S. (1982). "A note on the Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford". Oxford: All Souls College. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011.
- ^ Walvin, James (17 February 2011). "Slavery and the Building of Britain". BBC. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
- ^ "National Archives Currency Converter". The National Archives. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
- ^ Historic England. "All Souls College, Codrington Library (1046762)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ a b "The Codrington Library". Oxford: All Souls College. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ "The Codrington Library Applications". Oxford: All Souls College. Retrieved 12 November 2016.
- ^ Pauline Adams (1996). Somerville for women: an Oxford college, 1879–1993. Oxford University Press. p. 114. ISBN 019920179X.
- ^ "All Souls College and the Codrington Legacy". Retrieved 16 November 2020.
External links
- Official website
- The Unseen University: The Codrington Library(short film) Archived 16 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- v
- t
- e
Bodleian Library |
|
---|---|
Other libraries in the group |
- All Souls
- Balliol
- Brasenose
- Campion Hall
- Christ Church
- Corpus Christi
- Exeter
- Green Templeton
- Greyfriars Oxford Centre for Franciscan Studies
- Harris Manchester
- Hertford
- Jesus College
- Keble
- Kellogg
- Lady Margaret Hall
- Linacre
- Lincoln
- Magdalen
- Mansfield
- Merton
- New College
- Nuffield
- Oriel
- Pembroke
- Queen's College
- Regent's Park
- Russian and Eurasian Studies Centre
- Somerville
- St Anne's
- St Antony's
- St Benet's Hall
- St Catherine's
- St Cross
- St Edmund Hall
- St Hilda's
- St Hugh's
- St John's
- St Peter's
- Trinity
- University
- Wadham
- Wolfson
- Worcester
- Angus Library and Archive
- Clarendon Building (library administration)
- Indian Institute
- Oxford Libraries Information System
- Rhodes House
51°45′14″N 1°15′12″W / 51.7538°N 1.2533°W / 51.7538; -1.2533