As part of Newnham College's research into legacies of enslavement undergraduate student representatives proposed a student research project in the College Archives, with the students to be paid for by the College.
This would look further into the College’s archives, to make a preliminary assessment of the links between enslavement and Newnham. Many excellent applications were received, and two complementary projects investigating the early benefactors of the College students were selected.
The student researchers were allocated three weeks in the College Archive for a focused research programme, working with the College Archivist, Academic Supervisor and College Librarian and Assistant Librarian. In preparation for the archival research, the students were given introductions to archives and archival research, supervisions looking at other research inquiries and methods of carrying out research in this area, and an introduction to the early history of Newnham College. The clear research focus and the targeted academic supervision, along with the students’ own prior experience of dissertation research, enabled them to ‘hit the ground running’ and to make the most of their time in the archives.
The students focused on identifying the social and economic networks in which Newnham’s early benefactors existed. They took the important and interesting approach of using commercial stakeholder mapping software as a way of recording and exploring these networks.
In particular, they identified Newnham founders and benefactors who were members of families connected either directly or indirectly to the Atlantic slave trade. They were able to identify benefactors whose families had owned slaves or had invested directly in plantations. Other families had members who were bankers, manufacturers or cotton mill-owners, other professions where there may be linkages to enslavement.
The resulting report is a series of preliminary case studies, considering a range of early benefactors of the college, and exploring their economic and social links to the Atlantic slave trade, with the assistance of digital mapping software showing social networks and familial and financial connections. It is clear that, despite Newnham’s late 19th century foundation, there are links between the institution and the Atlantic slave trade and potentially to enslavement elsewhere such as India. This would be a fruitful subject for further research.
The student researchers were committed to making the enslaved as visible as possible. A key aspect of the digital map is that it includes enslaved people who could be identified and shows their place in the economic network, alongside the more familiar names in the College history.
The report and the digital map that accompanies it are available to be consulted in Newnham College Archives. To access them, please contact archivist@newn.cam.ac.uk
Next steps
The student researchers and academic supervisor presented their report to Governing Body in March 2022. The research was warmly received, and the work of the student researchers and their supervisors was commended. This was followed in May 2022 by a presentation of the research project to an audience including members of the College and researchers on the broader University inquiry. Students, staff and current and former Fellows discussed the findings and are reflecting on the next steps to take. A small working group of Fellows and student representatives will help guide that reflection.
The College community has explored further steps, guided by a working group of Fellows, staff and student representatives. Graduate students initiated a second speaker series and students also held a workshop to reflect on reparations. Library staff have been seeking to better understand and critically appraise the complex histories of Newnham College collections, focusing initially on donations which may have an indirect connection to legacies of enslavement. To facilitate further research by scholars, the Archivist plans to digitise and make available the records referenced in the student research report that relate to the establishment of the College. In 2025 the research was shared in an exhibition at the College.