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The University of London was founded by Royal Charter on 28 November 1836. As part of the celebrations of our 175th anniversary, documents from the University's archive at Senate House Library have been digitised to produce an on-line exhibition.
Among the images are an examination register from the 19th century, which includes the name of a world-famous figure, early photographs of the University of London Union, and photographs of sumptuous University accommodation from the early years of the last century.
Some idea of the sheer range of the University's activities since 1836 is provided by the exhibition. The University returned its own Member of Parliament until 1950, for instance.
The University has been involved in education across the world since its distance-learning programme was founded in 1858. There are also early photographs of the University of London Officers' Training Corps, which was founded in 1909 and enrolled 783 students in its first year. The University of London was the first university in Britain to award degrees regardless of race, creed, political belief, gender or a student's location. Women were first admitted in 1878 and the exhibition includes a rare photograph of a distinguished Victorian female student.
This year also marks the 75th anniversary of opening of Senate House, which houses the University's central staff and one of the world's largest humanities libraries. It was designed by Charles Holden, famous for his work on many of London's Underground stations. When completed, Senate House was the tallest secular building in Britain. The exhibition includes evocative photographs of Senate House while it was being built and also a stunning view from the top of the tower, which shows London pre-Blitz.
Visit Senate House to view our free public exhibition.
More details about the University's vast and fascinating archive are online click here
Senate House Library welcomes researchers: access is free for archives users, although we do need advance warning of archive researcher visits. Find out more here
We have tried to resolve all copyright issues relating to items in this exhibition. The Library operates a takedown policy and will remove from the exhibition any item which it does not have the right to display. Any person wishing to raise a copyright issue should contact shl.specialcollections@london.ac.uk