Introduction to the Exhibition

St John’s in the Empire/The Empire in St John’s (online) is the digital counterpart to an exhibition of objects, photographs and texts in three cases on display at the St John's College Library over Michaelmas Term (October-December) 2021. The online exhibition will be available throughout the academic year, and its purpose is to make the exhibition as widely available and accessible as possible.

The exhibition seeks to recover, connect and reflect new light on just some of the many people, things, pictures and stories that bring home to us St John’s College’s role in the history of the British Empire, and the Empire’s part in the history of St John’s College.  

Exhibition Curator: Mishka Sinha

With grateful thanks to:

Michael Riordan (Archivist) 

Jessica Hyslop (Conservator) 

Dr. Petra Hoffman (College Librarian) 

Ruth Ogden (Deputy Librarian) 

Hannah Skoda (Keeper of the Silver) 

St John’s and the Colonial Past is a research project that explores historical connections between the College and colonialism. It investigates objects, records, images, buildings and monuments that evoke the colonial past, discovers benefactions, wealth and capital drawn from colonialism and slavery, and researches alumni who served in the empire, and who came from the empire to study at St John’s College.  

Primary Investigator: Professor William Whyte 

Research Associate: Dr. Mishka Sinha