Durham University Records: Colleges: Van Mildert College

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Introduction

	Principals
	Contents
	Arrangement
	Related material - here
	Bibliography

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Catalogue

• Van Mildert College
• Foundation
• Annual Reports
• Anniversaries
• Governance
• Governing Body/Council
• Finance and General Purposes Committee
• House Committee
• Computer Policy Committee
• Health and Safety Policy Committee
• College Officers Meetings
• Library Committee
• Arts Committee
• Tutors' Meetings
• Operations Meetings
• College Review
• Administration
• Master
• Bursar
• Chaplain
• CAERS – Centre for Applied Ethics and Relational Studies
• Plans
• Library
• Development Office
• Academic
• Lectures
• Student Lists and Registers
• Student Files
• Associations, Clubs and Societies
• Junior Common Room (JCR)
• Middle Common Room
• Senior Common Room
• Van Mildert Association
• Van Mildert 48 Hour Production/Musical Committee
• Van Mildert College Trust
• Van Mildert Boat Club
• Van Mildert Dramatic Society/Dramsoc/Players/Feather Theatre Company
• Van Mildert College Arts Committee
• Photographs
• Photographs - College Groups
• Photographs - Clubs and Committees Annual Groups
• Photographs - Buildings
• Photographs - People
• Publications and Ephemera
• Donated Personal Collections
• Artefacts

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Principals

	1964-1972	Dr W. Arthur Prowse
	1972-1982	Dr Paul W. Kent
	1983-1988	Mr Arnold Bradshaw
	1988-1998	Dr Judy Turner
	1998-2000	Prof Ian Taylor
	2000-2004	George Patterson
	2004-2011	Prof Patrick O'Meara
	2011-date	Prof David Harper

The college is named after William Van Mildert (1765-1836), the last Prince Bishop of Durham. An Englishman of Dutch descent, he was instrumental in the founding of Durham University in 1832. His portrait hangs in Van Mildert College's Ann Dobson Hall. From his episcopal arms come the distinctive crossed scythe blades, on a red shield, of the college’s coat of arms.
The first master of the College, Dr Arthur Prowse, was appointed in 1964 but the College dates its foundation to 1965 when the first students were admitted. Prowse together with the first Senior Tutor, Arnold Bradshaw, set the tone and culture of Van Mildert – participatory, liberal, forward-looking – that has persisted. In October 1965, the first students of the College came into residence in Parson's Field House, described by Arnold Bradshaw in his college history as “a brand-new but repulsive-looking economy building next door to the prison.” Fortunately this was only a temporary arrangement and in October 1966 Van Mildert occupied its permanent site on Elvet Hill. The College buildings had been designed by Middleton, Fletcher & Partners of Middlesbrough; having also designed the Oriental Museum they knew the area and that parts of the site were waterlogged in wet weather. Accordingly they incorporated a small lake into their plans. The lake (and its flock of ducks) is perhaps the most distinctive visual feature of the College. Abutting the lake was the College’s main building containing the magnificent Dining Hall, the largest in Durham, as well as a library, bar, common rooms, and offices. Either side of the lake were grouped the four original accommodation blocks: Derwent, Wear, Tyne and Tees. Pevsner describes the College’s original buildings as “an impressive formal composition…”
The College was officially opened on 13 June 1967 by His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, who had been Van Mildert Professor of Divinity at Durham, and was an old friend of Arthur Prowse. By this time the College had reached its full complement with three undergraduate years in residence (around 300 students), together with some graduate students and some resident members of the Senior Common Room. The students were all men – Durham colleges were single-sex then – but while the College was filling up it had taken in students from other colleges, including over 50 women. These had now departed but the seeds of a mixed-sex college had been sown.
During 1969/70 the Governing Body of the College took two important decisions: to build a new accommodation block (eventually named Middleton Stairs, after the architect Philip Middleton) and to go mixed. The new block was completed in 1972 but was initially occupied by the first students of Collingwood College, whose buildings were not yet ready. Thus during 1972/3 two colleges, Van Mildert and Collingwood, shared the same premises. On formal occasions there were two Masters, Dr Paul Kent (who had succeeded Arthur Prowse upon his retirement in 1972) and Mr Peter Bayley, presiding at opposite ends of the Hall. The first intake of women were admitted in October 1972, though a small number of women had transferred from other colleges in 1971/2. Van Mildert was the first Durham college to go mixed, though it was not long before the others followed suit.
During the 1960s and 1970s the Hall was used extensively for concerts featuring Northern Sinfonia and well known artistes including Peter Pears, the Deller Consort, Shura Cherkassky and others. Members of the college enjoyed these concerts, without charge, from the comfort of the landing above the Hall. Sadly, with the development of new facilities elsewhere, such as the Sage Gateshead, these concerts are no longer possible.
In succeeding years the numbers in College steadily grew, reaching 498 in 1976/77. Various internal reorganisations allowed the library to expand into adjoining offices, the bar expanded by the roofing over of the “beer garden” and some accommodation outside the College was acquired for the overflow of students. An important development came in 1986 with the opening of the Conference Centre, which provided the College with additional meeting and event rooms and a means for expanding its conference business. In 1990 the College opened the Tunstall Building, providing an additional 30 single bedrooms with ensuite facilities. Further expansion of the College’s accommodation came in 2002 with the completion of the Deerness block, providing 97 single ensuite bedrooms. The College could now accommodate around 515 students, enough to take all first years as well as some final year and graduate students. By 2013 the College had grown to a community of over 1000 students, staff and tutors from all over the world.

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Contents

College records reflect all aspects of the college's life and may include minutes of its governing body/council and other committees, registers and files of its students, administrative and financial papers of its officers such as the master/principal and bursar (including covering maintenance of the buildings), also minutes, accounts, photographs and ephemera of the running of the dining halls and chapels, of the common rooms (senior, middle and junior), and of the student sports clubs and societies, with also on occasion papers of some of the senior and/or junior members, and some artefacts, principally occasional items of clothing such as ties, blazers, tee-shirts or specific college memorabilia.

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Accession details

Deposited by the college July 2015 (Acc No Misc.2014/15:123)
Additional material received from the college:
August 2015 (Acc No Misc.2015/16:8)
September 2015 (ACcc No Misc.2015/16:17);
November 2015 (Acc No Misc.2015/16:62);
January 2016 (Acc No Misc.2015/16:85);
August 2016 (Acc No Misc.2016/17:8);
February 2017 (Acc No Misc.2016/17:89);
September 2017 (Acc No Misc. 2017/18:14).

Previous custodial history

Records always held in the college

Conditions of access

Open for consultation.

Copyright and copying

Permission to make any published use of material from the collection must be sought in advance from the Head of Collections (email pg.library@durham.ac.uk) and, where appropriate, from the copyright owner. The Library will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material

Arrangement

College records are arranged as follows:
A Foundation
B Governance
C Administration
D Academic
E Clubs, Sports, Associations
F Photographs
G Publications and Ephemera
H Deposited/donated collections
I Artefacts
J Associated Trusts

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Processing

The 2015 accession is still being catalogued by Michael Stansfield into XML.

Appraisal

Records are generally appraised on site before transfer, or are appraised when received at Palace Green Library. Clean duplicates are generally removed.

Accruals

Continuous further accruals are anticipated. In April 2004, a retention schedule and other records management procedures were developed for the university's records to facilitate the regular transfer of records from the university's departments and offices to the archive. This draft retention schedule was developed further on the appointment of the first university records manager in August 2006, revised in 2019.

Related material - here

Records about the college also appear in the central archive of the university, particularly UND/C including copies of the college's governing body/council minutes.

Bibliography

Arnold Bradshaw, Van Mildert College: the First 25 Years: a Sketch, (Durham 1990)
A place of water : memories of 50 years at Van Mildert College, ed Maureen McCorry and Ruth Tanner, (Durham 2015)

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Catalogue

Van Mildert College