Inter-University Council Slides

A collection of coloured slides, 18 of which measure 40 x 40 mm, the remainder 35 mm, all mounted 50 x 50 mm, relating to Commonwealth Universities, with the exception of 33 of non-Commonwealth Universities which were, however, associated with the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas (IUC). Many, though not all, were taken by Ian Maxwell, formerly Deputy Director of IUC.
Though some have minimal identification, others have substantial annotations on the mounts. However, in view of the number, no attempt has been made to list them individually, only a few items of particular interest being noted. To take account of changing names, the universities are set out under their titles, arranged in country order, as in the Commonwealth Universities Yearbook (year not recorded) which has also provided the brief historical notes. This is followed by those universities in non-Commonwealth countries. Where dates are given, either in ink or, more frequently, stamped on them, these have been indicated, with serial numbers where these exist. In each case the total number relating to each university is given in brackets.
There are also glass slides, Y3011KKK(GS), which were originally donated with another collection, but were blended with this collection upon its receipt. Y3011KKK(GS)13-64 are the work of Professor Leonard Eastham, who was Pro-Vice Chancellor of the University of Sheffield. He was a member of a delegation under the chairmanship of Sir William Hamilton Fyfe, whose other members were Professor H.H. Bellot, Professor T.H. Davey, and Mr Walter Adams, sent by the IUC to consider educational developments in West Africa. It left London at the end of December 1946, visited all four British territories, and returned in mid-January 1947. Many of the slides relate to West Africa and the Sudan, and some show Sir William Fyfe. Not all slides are captioned, but simple descriptions have been supplied in parenthesis for those without. A number of images of Sudan appear to relate to another visit by Professor Eastham, circa 1952. Many of the slides duplicate prints held at Y3011WW.

Ian Maxwell was formerly Deputy Director of the Inter-University Council for Higher Education Overseas and died in 1991.

Unless restrictions apply, the collection is open for consultation by researchers using the Manuscripts Reading Room at Cambridge University Library. For further details on conditions governing access please contact mss@lib.cam.ac.uk. Information about opening hours and obtaining a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket is available from the Library's website (www.lib.cam.ac.uk).

At Ian Maxwell's request, his widow presented the slides to the RCS in July 1992.

Includes index.

A catalogue of the collection can be found on ArchiveSearch.

Ian Maxwell gave the RCS the collection of Inter-University Council photographs at Y3011WW and there is much duplication in the subject matter of the two collections.

For an account of the first 25 years of the IUC see: Maxwell, Ian C.M. (1980), 'Universities in partnership', Edinburgh: Scottish Academic.

This collection level description was entered by SG and MJC using information from the original typescript catalogue.

Maxwell, Ian, d 1991