Harrow College of Higher Education and predecessors

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 1753 HAR
Held at	: University of Westminster   Click here to find out how to view this collection at https://westminster-atom.arkivum.net/index.php/ ›
Full title	: Harrow College of Higher Education and predecessors
Date(s)	: 1897-c1991
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: c25 boxes
Name of creator(s)	: Harrow Technical School Harrow Technical College and School of Art Harrow College of Technology and Art Harrow College of Higher Education
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Marian Henrietta Hewlett (1843-1915) decided to begin art and domestic science classes for girls in Harrow in 1887. Under the auspices of the Harrow Band of Mercy, premises were rented at no 102 High Street in 1888, and public funding (for technical education) was received from Middlesex County Council from 1890 (and from 1894 its Technical Education Committee). Boys were also admitted. Students were drawn from Harrow and the surrounding districts. A new building for Harrow Technical School opened at Greenhill, in Station Road, in 1902 (extended in 1907 and 1932). Teaching included art, photography, commercial and domestic subjects, particularly in evening classes. The School of Art was increasingly important. Many of the instructors were part-time. The name was changed to Harrow Technical College and School of Art in 1948. The first building on a 25-acre site at Northwick Park (acquired in 1936) was begun in 1954, completed in 1959 and formally opened in 1961. It housed the technical and commercial departments (Engineering, Science, Photography, Commerce, and Domestic Studies) - the School of Art did not move from Station Road until later. Following the White Paper on Technical Education in 1956 (Cmnd 9703) Harrow was designated an area college. From the 1960s alterations were made in Harrow courses and status under the Council for National Academic Awards (CNAA), with more degree-level courses and an increased number of full-time and part-time day students and staff. Links were formed with polytechnics including PCL (the Polytechnic of Central London, formerly Regent Street Polytechnic). Harrow specialisms included photography, fashion and ceramics. Additions were made to the buildings at Northwick Park in the 1970s. In 1978 the college was renamed Harrow College of Higher Education. In 1990 Harrow merged with PCL, which in 1992 became the University of Westminster. The Harrow campus was re-developed to house Harrow Business School, Harrow School of Computer Science, and the Schools of Communication and Design and Media (now the School of Communication and the Creative Industries). It was formally opened in 1995.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Records, 1897-c1991, of Harrow College of Higher Education and its predecessors, comprising a letter concerning Harrow Technical School, 1897; Harrow Technical School register of teachers, 1907-1940; Board of Governors minutes, 1949-1982; Governing Body attendance book, 1949-1965, and minutes, 1982-1985; Academic Board minutes, 1969-1987; other administrative papers, comprising inspection reports, 1929, 1938, Department of Education and Science report on inspection, 1968, papers concerning CNAA and its Institutional Reviews, 1981-1988, and Harrow Annual Monitoring Survey, 1988-1989; visitors' book, 1975-1990; printed material, comprising prospectuses (incomplete series), 1946-1991, student handbooks, 1980s, programmes and other printed material for final shows, private views, etc, in fashion, art, design, film and photography, 1980s-1992, and Contour, the journal of Harrow College of Technology and Art, 1973-1978; various photographs, 1906-c1991, of staff, students, and premises, including construction on the Northwick Park site in the late 1950s; Hugh P Jones, 'A Centenary History: Harrow College of Higher Education' (typescript, 1988), and illustrations and other papers relating to its production; press cuttings, mainly from the Harrow Observer, 1901-1964.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open, subject to signing the Regulations for Access form.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Copies may be supplied, for research use only, unless copyright restrictions apply or the item is too fragile to be copied. Requests to publish original material should be addressed to the University Archivist.

Finding aids:

Uncatalogued.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Created by the institution.

Allied Materials

Related material:

The University of Westminster Archives holds records of Harrow College's successors, the Polytechnic of Central London (Ref: UWA PCL) and the University of Westminster (Ref: UWA UOW).

National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project. Sources: Hugh P Jones, 'A Centenary History: Harrow College of Higher Education' (typescript, 1988); Victoria County History of Middlesex, iv (1971), p 269.

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Dec 2001