From the Angus …

We continue to welcome visitors from across the world to the Angus Library, but a recent project has involved researchers from closer to home. Oxford University students participated in a ‘micro’ internship scheme which focused on doing research on some of the portraits in Regent’s Park College. The students used many resources in the Angus to create short accounts of the lives of these notable figures which will be made accessible alongside the portraits. Manuscript letters were scrutinised, college minutes pored over, memoirs studied, and contemporary newspapers together with periodicals of the era perused in the pursuit of rediscovering biographical details and placing the individuals within the context of their times. The project sparked thought-provoking discussion about the subjects of the portraits, and their legacy within Baptist history. While readers of the Baptist Quarterlymay be familiar with individuals such as Violet Hedger, Andrew Fuller, Amelia Angus and William Carey, other figures might not be so well-known. For instance, the man often identified as William Carey’s pundit in the famous portrait of the two together, takes his rightful place as Mrityunjaya Vidyalankar, revered Sanskrit and Bengali scholar. Another portrait was identified as that of Eliza, wife of Benjamin Davies (Principal of the College from 1844–1847). She was so loved by the College students that on her death in 1872, they formally requested that she be given a permanent memorial. This sort of research occurs daily in the Angus as it does in archives across the world. Nonetheless, it is an endlessly rewarding task to help unearth details of the past and to note especially the contributions of others. In this instance, it was a delight to introduce a new group of students to the unique joys of working in an archive with primary sources. In turn, they have provided introductions to the portraits that will be especially beneficial to new members of the college and to visitors who may not be acquainted with Baptist history.