University of Manchester Wardens' Conference Records

Minutes of the Warden's conference; some of which are signed. The earliest minutes of the Conference are missing, as are the minutes from post-1995.

The Wardens Conference is believed to have been established in the 1920s. Its original membership comprised heads of University halls (Ashburne, Ellis Llwyd Jones), independent halls (Dalton, Hulme, St Anselm, St Gabriel's and Langdale) and the theological training colleges (Lancashire Independent College, Unitarian College) which provided residence for some University of Manchester students. At this date, the University's relationship with the halls did not usually involve direct management, and there was only limited coordinating action through the University's heads of halls committee.

The purpose of the Conference (originally known as the Meeting) was to bring heads of halls together on a regular basis to discuss matters of common interest. Typically, these would include finance and fees, regulations for resident students and issues of discipline, and inter-hall relations. The Conference aimed to discover and promote areas of commonality between the halls (at a time when these could diverge significantly). The Conference generally met termly and was chaired by one of the heads of hall. University officials had no official representation in Conference meetings.

In the post-war period, there were significant changes to student residence, as many of the traditional University halls came under direct University management, and many new halls and residences were established (some of which operated on different principles to the traditional halls). These included: Woolton, Needham, Oak House, Linton, Greygarth, Moberly, Whitworth Park, Bowden and Grosvenor, as well as the UMIST halls Hardy Farm, Chandos and Wright Robinson. Owens Park was not initially represented, but by the late 1970s it was sending a representative. Increasingly the Conference worked more closely with the University Accommodation Committee on a common University residence strategy. The Conference is believed to have continued meeting up to 2004.

Arranged chronologically

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Most of the minutes were part of an accession from Hulme Hall deposited at the University Archives on 14 March 2008.

Accruals possible.

The University Archives also holds archives of individual halls: Dalton-Ellis, Hulme, St Anselm, St Gabriel's and Langdale (currently not Ashburne), as well as the records of the University sessional committees which supervised the University-owned halls. The Heads of Halls Committee had a more formal role than the Wardens' Conference in implementing University policies for the residential halls: USC/16; see also the minutes of the Accommodation Committee USC/22