THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF A CAMBRIDGE LIBRARY - THE RECORDS OF QUEENS’ COLLEGE 1448–1677

Abstract

This study began over twenty years ago in 1991. The original impetus was the discovery that detailed purchase records for books in Queens’ College library were preserved in QC MS 75. This is a paper notebook, begun in the early years of the seventeenth century, containing the records of those goods and monies which were the direct responsibility of successive Presidents of the College.1 It includes the inventories of the College’s goods drawn up when each new President took up office, particularly the contents of the President’s Lodge; the income from student fees such as Problem Feasts, and the payment of those fees to allow access to recreational amenities such as the bowling green; the College silver and plate, and the allocation of particular pieces to individual members of the fellowship; and the plans of chambers and room rents, with the names of the occupants.