The University Archive represents the academic life of students from the 1880s to the present day in a variety of material, including student notebooks, journals, diaries, lecture notes and research material, examination papers, and printed and audio visual material.

The archive contains over 200 individual collections of graduate papers reflecting all areas of academic study and research. These collections continue to inform the work of current students at the University, both through teaching and personal research.

Students relaxing on University Square with the Victoria Building in the background, 1970s-80s. Ref: A268/19

Student diary of Edgar Proctor, 1925

The Student diaries of Edgar Proctor (BA Classics 1924, Dip.Ed 1926, MA Classics 1927) comprise 15 volumes and give a full account of academic and social life on campus during the 1920s and 1930s. He states:

“Mon Oct 12th [1925] first day of academic term for me: two lectures in the morning and a talk on voice production and reading aloud by ‘Camp’ [Campagnac, Professor of Education 1908-38] in the afternoon: he is a most delightful person to listen to: he seems to get there every time ……. Every time I go into the Education Library I wonder how I am to find time to read all the books I want to, not to mention those I ought and will probably have to! I’m quite sure it’s going to be the most interesting year I’ve ever spent as well as the busiest.”

Ref: D222/2

Lecture and seminars

Attending lectures and seminars has always been a fundamental part of student life. The number of lecture theatres and seminar rooms in Schools and Departments across campus has grown as the student population has increased. The photographs in our archives very much depict the attitudes and the fashions of the day, from the layout of the rooms to the composition of the student body and the formality of their attire.

In the first of these photos, students attend a research evening in the Muspratt Physical Chemistry Laboratories in 1913. They are all men and dressed in formal attire. The second photo shows medical students attending a lecture in the Pathology Laboratory in around the 1960s, when more female students began to enrol.

Students attend a research evening in the Muspratt Physical Chemistry Laboratories in 1913 (Ref: A241/F); A medical student works in the Pathology department, 1969 (Ref: A241/F)

Teaching and fieldwork

Fieldwork and study trips play an important role in the teaching of many degree subjects from Archaeology to Zoology, and have been an enriching and valuable experience for students at the University since the 1880s.

One of the earliest examples is the Marine Biological Station established on Puffin Island in 1887 and its transferral to Port Erin on the Isle of Man in June 1892, where it remained operational until 2006. The University Archive contains many photographs and examples of student research work carried out at the Station since its beginnings.

Here Marine Biology students dig for specimens in the sand at low tide at Port Erin, Easter 1951.

Ref: SCI/2/1/1/3/16/3

Teaching and fieldwork

The LMBC journal was kept at the Station, first on Puffin Island and from 1892 at Port Erin, for members of the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee and other students of Science who visited the station to record their names, the dates of their visit and a statement of the work done there and any scientific, tidal and weather observations made.

Original members of the committee visiting the Island on the founding of the Zoological Station are listed in the journal as Issac Roberts, Alfred O Walker, Professor William Abbott Herdman (Derby Chair of Zoology 1881-1919) and Robert John Harvey Gibson (Holbrook Gaskell Chair of Botany 1894-1921).

Ref: SCI/2/1/1/2/2/1

Teaching and fieldwork

This project report of a Zoology student who had completed a weeklong fieldwork placement at Port Erin is one of over 200 individual collections of graduate papers reflecting all areas of academic study and research.

These collections continue to inform the work of current students at the University, both through teaching and personal research.

Ref: A275/3/2

Diary of Irene M. Irving, medical student

Irene Marion Desmet (nee Irving) FRCS graduated with a BSc in Physiology 1949 and MB.Ch.B in 1969. She went on to work at the University as Senior Lecturer in Paediatric Surgery 1975-1986. She also served as Senior Consultant Surgeon at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital. She died on 5 March 2020.

Extract from a diary entry made on 14 May 1947:

"Likewise spent all the afternoon in the Cohen up in the bookstacks with Roma. She managed to drop her file through a slit in the floor to the floor below. Highly amusing."

Ref: D180

Fun around campus

Four medical students, two of whom are each carrying a medical student as if a baby, on the roof of the Liverpool Maternity Hospital.

(group photograph) Left to right: Ed Knowles (holding Alan Sibbald), A. Clifford Brewer (later Senior Surgeon, Liverpool Royal Infirmary), W. Parkes (later Orthapedic Surgeon, Johannesberg, South Africa), and Frank R. Neubert (holding G. Rogers).

Posing medical students, 1930s © estate of Frank Neubert (Ref: D361/1/11)

Where will I live?

The photographs, student magazines and prospectuses within the University Archive reveal another very important part of a student’s life: where it is that they called home.

This leaflet from 1978 includes interior and exterior photographs of student accommodation and text discussing the options available to students.

Ref: A267/9

University Hall

A Hall for women students was opened at 163 Edge Lane, Fairfield in October 1899, as a result of private donations organised by a voluntary committee of Liverpool women. The Hall came under the control of Liverpool University in 1921.

A 1901 prospectus of the hall described it as follows: ‘The students enjoy a comfortable home-life combined with the social advantages of a resident college. Out-door exercise of all kinds is encouraged, and there is a good garden with croquet and tennis grounds; and the athletic grounds of the college are within easy reach.’

In this photograph some young women are performing in costume in the grounds. By the 1970s the hall was used by both male and female students, and was eventually closed before the academic year 1984-5.

Ref: P8/61

University Hall - The Phoenix

Halls of Residence often had their own publications. The Phoenix was the University Hall house magazine between 1912 and 1916. The hand-written cloth-covered magazines made by the students give us a glimpse into the students' daily lives, from meal times to afternoons off playing croquet.  They include poetry, essays, a fashion column and, in one volume, extracts from letters sent to University Hall Students from their friends and family serving in the First World War. This cover from Easter term 1915 has a hand-illustrated cover showing a young girl reading a book between two apple trees.

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University Hall

In 1922 the University of Liverpool established two men's Halls of Residence in Ullet Road, these were Ashton Rathbone and Rankin. They were not purpose built halls but occupied two houses each. In 1928 the University purchased a fifth house and merged the two halls to be run as a single unit.

In 1930 a Hall Journal was launched, the Blue Pigeon, to help create a sense of unity between the three Halls. In the issue of June 1934, a student wrote in an essay entitled ‘Remembrance of Things Past’, reflecting on positive experiences at Ashton Rathbone Hostel:

"It is because the hostel is such a microcosm that it is such an invaluable institution. If experience is to teach us anything, the lessons learned here should be the most valuable of all, for here we have seen the world: in miniature, perhaps, but very nearly complete. We have seen successes and failures, and we have learned to know what successes were not worth having, and which failures were better than any success. […] Most important of all, we have learned that most essential part of our education: to understand and appreciate others, to govern and be governed."

Linocut of Rankin Hall, 1932 (Ref: P5488/20/2)

University Hall

As late as 1921-1922 only slightly over 19% of students came from outside Lancashire and Cheshire. The provision of the Halls of Residence changed considerably with the development of the University. The first purpose-built University accommodation, Derby Hall, at Greenbank, was opened in 1939.

Photograph of a student’s room on Chatham Street, 1962 © Brian Hudson (Ref: D1153)

University Hall

There was a significant expansion in the student population during the 1950s and 1960s; full-time students rose in number from about 3,300 in 1948-51 to 5,114 in 1963-64. Rathbone Hall was added to the Greenbank site in 1959, followed by Roscoe and Gladstone Halls in 1965. The University acquired the Carnatic site in Mossley Hill where previously Mossley Hall (later Carnatic Hall) had stood. Salisbury, McNair and a new Rankin Hall were built on this site between 1964 and 1972. More residences were added: Morton House and Lady Mountford Hall between 1971 and 1974, and Dale Hall.

First-year undergraduates were expected to live in Halls or University-approved lodgings which led to the development of bed-sit accommodation in the form of Philharmonic Court, between Falkner Street and the Philharmonic Hall (1975), providing 79 self-contained flats and 237 single study bedrooms. Postgraduate House (1970) provided a further 112 places on the precinct. The early 1980s saw the addition of Mulberry Court to the Precinct, where 177 students could be housed, and a hostel at Leahurst Veterinary School for 34 students.

Map showing locations of halls, from a student accommodation guide, 1983 (Ref: A267/9)

University Hall - Greenbank

Greenbank House, the home of the Rathbone family, was presented to the University in 1944 and formed an annexe to Derby Hall until 1963-4, when it was converted into a social club for staff and students. The Greenbank site was expanded with the addition of Rathbone Hall in 1959 and Roscoe and Gladstone Halls in 1965.

Derby Hall was built on land acquired in Allerton from the Rathbones of Greenbank. It was designed by Harold Dod, the architect who designed the Harold Cohen Library, and was officially opened by Lord Derby in 1939.

Students walking in the grounds of Greenbank House, c. 1989 (Ref: A243/1); Student at their desk in a study room at Greenbank Halls of Residence, c. 1989 (Ref: A243/1)

Student Union

The University Archive contains a wealth of material relating to student representation and activities via an official Students' Union and Guild of Undergraduates. This display provides a snippet of the students' experience of the Guild throughout time, whether that be engaging with the building spaces, amenities, or societies. This engagement has been longstanding, too: Students’ Representative Councils were formed for both men and women in 1892. These councils then formally became part of the Guild of Undergraduates on its creation in 1904.

Photograph of Student Societies fair, c.1970s (Ref: A241/F)

Student Union

It was within the decade after the common room spaces were established in the Victoria Building that discussions took place regarding a purpose built home for student activities. In 1896 the women students acquired a club house at no. 28 Brownlow Street, whilst the men acquired no. 53 Bedford Street. The Victoria Building also remained a popular resting and social hub between lectures. In the Victoria Building, the Men's Common Room was based upon the ground floor, whilst the women's was on the first floor, just off the balcony area. In those days segregation between the sexes was normal and expected; Edna Rideout reported that occasionally a daring male student would venture to the first floor balcony to talk to the women students (Thomas Kelly, For Advancement of Learning: The University of Liverpool, 1881-1981, p. 167). 

The Union building was designed by Charles Reilly, Professor in Architecture at the University. The first stage, the Men's Wing facing on to Bedford Street, opened in 1911. The second phase, the Women's Wing and the Gilmour Hall linking the two wings, were completed in 1913. As shown below, along with several of the interior rooms and other University buildings, the exteriors were depicted within the postcards produced in 1920 by Ernest Coffin for the purpose of raising money for the University. 

Students’ Union, postcard from etching by Ernest Coffin, 1920 (Ref: A274/34)

Student Union

Dr Frank Neubert, who provided several of the photographs in these highlights, recalls achieving this shot in the days when materials were scarce: `Results! Suddenly decided to celebrate and I "borrowed" a camera from somewhere, a handful of flash powder and got this! 1935'

Front row left to right: Fran Neubert, Clarice Hughes, Bernard Green, Sheelagh Little, George Marsden, Joan Watts, and Vernon K. Drennan.

Back row (left to right): William Parkes, Harold Lanceley, Joan Glynn-Jones, Henry Davies, Peggie Jones, Alan Sibbald, Clifford Brewer, and Edward Knowles.

Middle (left to right): Selwyn Griffin, Ethna Little, Moira Murray, - (an unidentified South African), Monica Hurst, `Jerry' Rodgers, -, Roy Hartley, and George Watson.

Students celebrating exam results in the Student Union Building, 1935 © estate of Frank Neubert (Ref: D361/1/41)

Student Union

Two major extensions were made to the Students' Union building with the aim of improving the social spaces available to students. The first extension in 1935 was urgently needed as student numbers continued to grow. In this extension the two wings were linked, although rooms were reserved solely for the use of either men or women. The new additions included a new cafeteria, a new assembly room named the Stanely Hall, and a new library. In 1965, a much welcomed further extension created the Mountford Hall (which is still used today for gigs and events), a lounge, and new cafeteria area.

Photograph of Mountford Hall from within Guild Gazette article "Cool, new, but not without faults" from 19th January 1965 issue. (Ref: PUB 3/7/28)

Student Union

"We're in the new Union at last. Gone are the days of eating in a dingy cafeteria; gone are the times when hundreds were turned away from Saturday dances; and gone are the continual grouses over lack of space."

Paul Morgan, "Cool, new, but not without faults", Guild Gazette, issue January 19th 1965.

Students relaxing in the Student Union, c.1964-6 (Ref: D970/2/2)

Formal events, balls and graduations

‘Merseyside Eisteddfod with Chairing Ceremony, to be held in the Students’ Union, Brownlow Hill, Liverpool 7. Saturday, February 18^th. President: Mr Robert Owen. Judges— Poetry: Mr. T. J. Williams, Literature and Recitation: the Chief Bard [previous winner of an Eisteddfod] Dafydd Owen. Afternoon meeting: 2 o’clock. Evening meeting – 6 o’clock. List of Subjects and details from: Hywel Morris, Students’ Union, 2 Bedford St. North, Liverpool 7.

An Eisteddfod is a competitive event with music, song, poetry and other types of performance. The most famous is the National Eisteddfod of Wales but local communities also stage their own.

If an Eisteddfod is ‘Gadeiriol’ it means that it includes the most prestigious ceremony, the Chairing of the Bard. The Chair – a real chair, newly handcrafted for each ceremony – is awarded for poetry in a strict traditional metre. The next highest prize is the Crown, for poetry in free verse. The fact that the Student Union was able to present a chair shows the strength of Liverpool’s active Welsh community.

The judge for the recitations, Dafydd Owen, is given the title ‘Prifardd’ which means a previous winner of either the Chair or the Crown. He is possibly to be identified as a Welsh Independent minister active in Mold (Yr Wyddrug), Flintshire. The president, Robert Owen, appears to be a former professor at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital.

Poster for Eisteddfod, unknown date, probably 1940s-50s (Ref: A161/187)

Formal events, balls and graduations

More than 2700 people saw the French Dramatic Society's production of Molière's L'Avare at the Neptune Theatre. Even though an extra performance was arranged, six hundred firm postal bookings and a thousand telephone bookings had to be turned down. Because so many schools were unable to see the 'A' Level set text, the Clwyd and Cumbrian education authorities invited the society to take the production tour to their areas.

Photograph of French Dramatic Society's production of Moliere's L'Avare at the Neptune Theatre, Spring 1978 (Ref: A241/F)

Formal events, balls and graduations

Photograph of graduates (wearing hoods and gowns) on the steps of St. George's Hall, Liverpool, on Degree Day - 1 July 1939. Caption on the back identifies some of those shown:-Bob K. Whitham (Geography), Joan I. Mellor (Geography), Joyce Ashley, (Geography), Murielle Otter (Geography), G.L. Marson, Dorothy Eastham (Science), Ron. T. White (Geography), H.R. Wilkinson (later Professor of Geography at Hull), Grace Murdoch (Geography), Maud A. Gregory (Geography), and G.V. Turner (Geography).

Graduates on the steps of St George’s Hall, 1939 (Ref: D376/11/5)

Formal events, balls and graduations

This photograph is from the personal papers of Enid Porter, who entered the University of Liverpool in October 1917 and graduated BA Hons English Literature in 1921, writing her thesis on ‘The art of Robert Bridges’. She also studied on courses in Greek, Latin, French, Medieval History and Poetry. She was Lady President of the Guild in 1921/2 and also went on to take an MA in English Literature, graduating in 1926. She married a fellow graduate, Douglas Hamer, and died in 1986.

A later student, Jean Foulds (1947-1951), describes her experience of the graduation ceremony: ‘Graduation at the Philharmonic Hall was an occasion. Wonderful to have that authorisation to enter the carpeted dignity of Ravenscroft and Willis to be fitted in a gown. Women graduates wore their mortar boards. Men tucked theirs under the left arm. Consequently there was always the chance of an exchange with a male colleague if one's cap wouldn't balance or seemed to come down over one's ears. Afterwards there were the usual photo sessions, before repairing to the Kardomah in bold street with family and friends.’ – Recollections of Jean Foulds, 1947-1951.

Graduation portrait of Enid H. Porter, 1921 (Ref: D716/1/6)

Formal events, balls and graduations

Many students enjoyed the opportunity for their families to meet their tutors, as recalled by Juliana Thompson (1985-88): "My last ever meeting with the Professor [Phillip Edwards] occurred on my graduation day. After the ceremony, when we were all spilling out of the Philharmonic Hall and onto the street, I spied him and went to bid my farewell. Dressed in all his academic finery he greeted my mother, shook hands with my father, and hugged me. My father was so proud."

Abercromby Square is a particular favourite setting for students to take graduation photos with friends and family – in this one we can see that being a graduate does not prevent loved ones from forcefully rearranging your gown!

Graduates and families in Abercromby Square, July 1980, (Ref: A241/F)

Formal events, balls and graduations

Dinners, dances, and balls of varying levels of formality were offered to students as part of their annual calendar.

Dr. H.J. Stern (1918-1921) recalled:

"Each faculty arranged dances, those of the engineers enjoyed the highest prestige. There were printed programmes with pencils attached, and although these gradually fell into disuse the supper dance remained the most important and could show that you might be serious about your partner. A few men wore white cotton gloves (i had a pair), but like the programmes they were gradually discarded. Dress would now be considered to be extremely formal and not only at dances. Hats were generally worn by both sexes and, some men came in bowler hats" (Ref: D278)

Students dancing on the lawn in front of Wyncote House, c. 1930s © estate of Dr Frank Neubert (Ref: D361/1/36)

Formal events, balls and graduations

Commem week took place at the end of the summer term in order to celebrate the end of the academic year.

Jean Foulds (1947-51) recalls: "The annual Commem. Ball meant ball-gowns varying from frothy snowballs of white tulle, layer-upon-layer of underskirt, to slinky satin sheaths often remade from our mother's pre-war finery, because there was still very little in the shops, we didn't have all that much money, and the war had taught us to be enterprising with our needles. Our escorts were resplendent in unaccustomed black tie and dinner jacket, in many cases borrowed from dad. Few women if any wore trousers." (Ref: D716/1/6)

The photo here shows the University Veterinary Society’s Annual Ball in 1934.

University Veterinary Society Annual Ball, 1934 (Photo Ref: S2957/21)

Formal events, balls and graduations

Students and staff at the Biochemistry department’s Annual Dinner at the Royal Restaurant, 12 December 1949. The University Archive also contains a copy of the menu card from this dinner, signed by the attendees.

Ref: D358/4/4

Formal events, balls and graduations

This Guild Gazette from Commemorative Week in 1955 also refers to the disarray caused by student ‘bopping’, which were causing problems of capacity in the Stanley Hall. The writer notes contemplatively that bops had already been completely banned in Manchester.

"Entry to the Saturday night hops had to be restricted because the Stanley Hall could never have coped with the numbers who wanted to get in. Bob [Edwin Tanner, Guild staff member] and his team had to be particularly vigilant because the would-be ticketless gatecrashers were people of considerable intelligence and ingenuity. On one occasion there was a crowd of both sexes in Bedford Street pooling their ideas how to get in. One genius spotted scaffolding attached to a building with long planks of timber for platforms. One long plank was enough. Somebody inside with a ticket was prevailed to open a window in the men's snooker room basement. One end of the piece of timber was laid on the railings, and the other on the window sill below. Down that plank crawled an endless line of students... Poor Bob was baffled."

Recollections by N.C. Bernsen, 1945-47; 1949-52 (Ref: D716/1/2).

Guild Gazette, 23 June 1955 (Ref: PUB 3/7/18)

Panto Week

One of the most amusing ways the University has raised money for charity in the past is the annual Panto Week, founded accidentally in 1897 when students ‘processed’ down from campus to a local theatre to catch the winter play. After the roaring success (and rowdiness) of the first ‘procession’ the day steam-rolled into an annual Panto day, filled with elaborate costumes, floats, and designated marching routes. And later (when a day just wasn’t enough) it became a fully fledged, ball-filled Panto week, usually held in February. The annual day became as much a part of the academic year as any lectures or exams.

This dramatic photo shows a Liver Bird float in the Panto Day parade along Brownlow Hill on 20 February 1965, with Frederick Gibberd’s Metropolitan Cathedral under construction in the background.

D970/2/16

Panto Week

The Panto week had its own publication, Pantosfinx, which was filled with amusing articles and curious items. It firstly emerged within the student magazine The Sphinx, before being published separately from 1925 onwards. All advertisements were paid for by local businesses but produced by students, often leading to witticisms, cartoons and innuendo, rather than professional adverts. However, this was in keeping with a broader style and tone, evident in its comedic guides to Liverpool, free ‘gifts’ and short stories. Pantosfinx was a magazine filled with joyful enthusiasm, all the more obvious for the fact it was for a good cause.

Students editing the Pantosfinx (Ref: D730/4)

Panto Week

Advertising the Pantosfinx was in itself an event!

On the elephant (left to right): Norman Bayliss, Mary Rigg (later married Sidney Riddick), Joan Roscoe, and Brenda Griffiths (later, 1937-38, Lady President of the Guild of Undergraduates; later married Norman Bayliss). Standing: Sidney Riddick (BA 1935, DipEd 1936, MA 1939; d.6 July 1996). Original photograph by Harris and Price.

Students and an elephant advertise the Pantosfinx (Ref: D730/7)

Panto Week

Mrs Mary Riddick (née Rigg) (right) graduated B.A. in 1936 and obtained the Diploma in Education in 1937. Inter alia, as a representative of the Arts Students' Association, she was a member of the Council of the Guild of Undergraduates in Session 1935-36.

Three female students on a motorcycle, wearing gowns and mortar board, distribute copies of Pantosfinx, 14 January 1936. (Ref: D730/6)

Panto Week

The Matron of the Royal Infirmary, Miss Cummins, gifted the Guild with a doll in 1922. The doll was known as Sister Jane, and she was the award given to the Faculty who raised the most money during Panto Week. However, the doll was almost always part of a riotous struggle between Faculties, as seen in this photograph of students having a mud fight in the Quadrangle. 'Sister Jane' was last seen in the 1930s.

Students fight over the mascot ‘Sister Jane’, 1936 (Ref: D730/13)

Panto Week

“...We were determined to enjoy our last Panto Day.  Teaching practice left us little time for artistic effort to prepare an elaborate float and so we loaded a lorry with much of the department's furniture to represent a schoolroom. A few 'masters' wore academic dress - the rest of us found our old school uniforms. An essential item of school boy equipment, of course, is a water pistol which was a good excuse for firing on the crowd. In the event the buckets (even bins) full of water that were loaded onto the float as ammunition were unnecessary as the crowds (and students) were thoroughly soaked by one of the wettest panto days ever known."

Recollections of S. Alasdair Munro, 1957-61 (Ref: D716/1/16)

Panto float entering Mount Pleasant from Brownlow Hill, with the Victoria Building (now Victoria Gallery & Museum) in the background, 1961. © Robert Balfour (Ref: D820/1)

Panto Week

Aside from the procession and the panto itself, students were out in force in the city, dressed in costume and taking part in stunts with collecting tins and selling copies of the Pantosfinx. The stunts varied in size and success, and could be downright dangerous – in 1965 the Physical Society's attempt to see-saw for 100 hours in 1965 (they succeeded!), whilst in 1972, an attempt to send a manned flight across the lake in Sefton Park failed.

Physical Society’s see-saw fundraiser, 1965 (Ref: D970/2/20)