Additional Collections of Manuscripts

Kerrich Papers

• Thomas Kerrich (1748-1828) was an artist and antiquary from Norfolk. Educated in Cambridge at Magdalene College and later ordained in the Church of England at Peterborough, he held a number of influential posts, including Fellow of Corpus, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, and Principal Librarian at the University Library. His interests were primarily in medieval church architecture and the art of the 16^th and 17^th century Dutch masters, a large collection of which was donated to the Fitzwilliam Museum after his death.
• The Kerrich papers are composed of 28 manuscripts (CCCC MSS 584-611) of bound letters, primarily of the families of Rogerson, Postlethwayt, Gooch and Kerrich, from 1675-1828, with a few letters from 1633 on, and arranged roughly chronologically by correspondent. The collection was purchased by the College in 1939.
• A list of the correspondents and where their letters may be found is available here: Kerrich Index. Interested parties may apply for a reader’s card to consult the manuscripts in the reading room of the Parker Library.

Stukeley Papers

• William Stukeley (1687-1765) was admitted to Corpus Christi College to study medicine in 1703, and after receiving his BA he practiced as a physician. In 1717 he moved to London, where he became an active member of a number of learned societies, including the Royal Society (where he formed a friendship with Sir Isaac Newton), the Society of Antiquaries, and the Royal College of Physicians. Stukeley’s most influential published work centred on stone circles, and his works on Stonehenge (1740) and the circle at Avebury (1743) were based on extensive fieldwork and geographical surveys.
• The Stukeley notebooks (CCCC MSS 613-23) were purchased in 1963. They cover a variety of antiquarian interests including coinage, Roman and Greek history, and local history.
• CCCC MSS 544, 550, 552 and 556 are other materials either related to Stukeley and his work or are additional notebooks. They were catalogued by Vaughan and Fines, and the pdf of their Handlist of Manuscripts in the College of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge is available here: vaughan_fines
• A list of the manuscripts in the Stukeley collection is available here: Stukeley Notebooks. Interested parties may apply for a reader’s card to consult the manuscripts in the reading room of the Parker Library.

Eastern Manuscripts

• Around 250 manuscripts from the Middle East and India which are owned by the College are deposited in Cambridge University Library. There are a few treasures in this collection, including a beautifully illustrated Shahnama, a Persian epic poem. They are not yet catalogued online but are listed in E. G. Browne, A supplementary hand-list of the Muhammadan manuscripts including all those written in the Arabic character preserved in the libraries of the University and Colleges of Cambridge (Cambridge 1922).
• The vast majority of these manuscripts appear to have been collected in India in 1863-64 by Colonel Honnor, and then were passed on to Francis Hodder. Between 1883 and 1884, the manuscripts were donated to the College.
• These manuscripts must be requested and consulted at the University Library manuscripts reading room.

Hoskyns Collection

• Under the umbrella heading of MS 541, the Hoskyns collection contains 68 papyrus and 54 vellum Coptic, Greek and other fragments.
• They were acquired by a Fellow of the College, the Rev. Canon Sir Edwyn Clement Hoskyns, in 1916 in Egypt, and then donated to the College in 1923.
• The fragments are catalogued as one in Vaughan and Fines’ Handlist of Manuscripts in the College of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, and further details of the collection are available through the Trismegistos database: www.trismegistos.org/collection/80
• Interested parties may apply for a reader’s card to consult the manuscripts in the reading room of the Parker Library.