Blog
4 August 2026
The college’s photograph collection contains a marvellous collection of plate glass negatives, created by Alfred Rose between c.1890 and 1914. Rose was a member of Emmanuel for 60 years, being admitted in 1859, becoming a Fellow in 1863, and dying in college in 1919. He also served as Bursar for some years, relinquishing the office in 1893. His photographs show parts of Emmanuel that rarely, if ever, featured in the postcards sold by the thousands in local shops, and they are therefore a unique records of, the college’s appearance in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
These two photographs show the garden before and after the erection of the ornamental dovecot in 1890. Note the ornamental wooden window box on one of the Old Court windows, and also the stucco on its façade. This was later removed because of water penetration.
Amanda Goode, College Archivist