| StorageSite | UCL Institute of Education |
| Description | The collection came to the Archives in two separate sections.
The first is now catalogued and consists mainly of papers of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education (NCIHE), of which David Watson was a member. The NCIHE was led by Sir Ronald Dearing and culminated in the 'Dearing Report' in 1997. The Committee's report made 93 recommendations to the government including the introduction of tuition fees, the expansion of higher education, and additional steps in teacher training. This part of the collection also contains one box of papers relating to the Learning and Teaching Support Network (LTSN), an organisation aimed at achieving high standards of teaching in higher education. (17 boxes)
The second tranche of papers came to us from David's home at the end of 2023. There is a basic list for this material which is listed here. The material is available to reseachers but we may require up to two weeks' notice to provide access in accordance with data protection legislation:
A detailed list is below but as a guide:
- Boxes 1-5 comprises papers regarding David’s own education (school and university). Correspondence from his time as school and university are in boxes 7 and 8 and notebooks are in box 13.
- Box 6 comprises papers from David’s time working at St Andrew’s School (now Minaki Secondary School). There is some correspondence home written during his time in Tanzania in box 8.
- Boxes 8-13 largely comprise papers regarding David’s employment: Philadelphia, USA (Box 8, 9, 13); Brighton University (previously polytechnic) (boxes 8, 10, 11,13, 18) and the Institute of Education (boxes 9,12 and 13), Green Templeton College (boxes 11 and 18)
- Boxes 17 and 18 contain various papers organised annually and cover David’s professional and personal life
- Box 19 contains scrapbooks made by David on a wide range of subjects.
DETAILED LIST:
Box 1
- Cheshunt Grammar School - Record Book 1960-1962, includes letter regarding prize giving to David for cycling proficiency
- School notebooks (David's workbooks) - Eton College 1960s
Box 2
- School reports - Eton College 1962-1967 (2 folders)
- David's parents' correspondence with Eton School (Bernie and Lewis Watson): also 2 notebooks recording David's music lessons, school certificates, various events programmes (mainly for musical concerts) and posters including an order of service from Eton, Clare College Cambridge and local events in Broxbourne where David grew up, list of graduates from 1971 and newspaper cuttings (when David graduated from Clare College), general newspaper cuttings about the school, information from the school regarding health and infectious diseases, uniform, social activities, fees and scholarships, school rules, editions of the Eton College Chronicle (school newsletter) various dates from 1963-1968, entrance and school examination papers, sample of O'Level examination papers.
Box 3
- Eton 1962-1967: A-level results; Eton music; Clare scholarship (also includes correspondence mainly from friends [and family]
- Eton ephemera: e.g. concert programmes, school games 'choices', Eton calendar Lent term 1968, alphabetical school list 1966
- Eton school essays including English (Shakespeare) and history (presumably from Eton)
- Cambridge notebooks plus revision cards
Box 4
- Cambridge correspondence and papers including correspondence with friends and from the university, notification of examination results, programmes for events etc
- Cambridge ephemera: small amount of ephemera from David's time at Cambridge University including programmes for events (particularly Cambridge University Musical Society (including two posters) & Cambridge Arts Theatre), University regulations 1968/9, photograph of David alongside the rest of the team from when he appeared on University Challenge, NUS card
- Minutes of meetings of the Cambridge University Musical Society 1968-1971
- Cambridge 1970-1971: tripos questions (exam papers), exam result, also includes correspondence with friends, and information about financial support)
- [Cambridge Essays]
Box 5
- Cambridge: Tanzania - SCM, CUUNA, CWDAG 1970 - comprising papers re post-Colonial European relationships with Africa
- Cambridge: correspondence and papers including some examination papers from Cambridge University
Box 6
- Tanzania - SCM, CUUNA, CWDAG 1970: Cambridge - British Colonisation
- Minaki Tanzania, 1968 (+ 1967 introduction to schools / Africa Linking Scheme) (mainly seems to relate to Clare College)
- Minaki 1968 - letters
- Minaki - literature
- Minaki Poems & letters etc 1968
- Minaki 1968 Form 2 Intensive English Course Scheme of Work
- Minaki various papers including immigration records, markbook.
Box 7
Bundles of correspondence home organised into annual bundles by year 1962-1967
Box 8
- Bundles of correspondence home 1968; first week at Clare College, 1969, plus a small bundle of letters from Tanzania (1968)
- Bundle of letters sent home by David from when he was in America 1972-1974
- Thouron Scholar University of Pennsylvania 1971-1974
- University of Pennsylvannia Assistant Master of Music 1974
- University of Pennsylvannia teaching assistant role 1973-1976
- Germantown Friends School Philadelphia 1973-1975 (re employment)
- Brighton Polytechnic Appointment of Director, 1990. Includes David's leaving speech from Oxford Polytechnic
Box 9 - Employment 1
- Job application to Graduate Department of History, University of Pennsylvania, 1974 (mainly articles by Warren)
- Master of Clare Application
- Nuffield Foundation Appointment 2005
- Institute of Education Appointment
Box 10 - Employment 2
- Inaugural lecture: correspondence, papers and text of lecture: Rescuing the history of ideas: two lives of the mind (1991)
- Professors 1990-1995; - introductions for individuals at their inaugural lectures from Watson's time at University of Brighton 1998-2004; plus papers re a book of professors 1990-1995
- Letters of congratulations on Watson's knighthood
Boxes 11-13: Notebooks - there are various series of notebooks in which David kept all his thoughts and plans in a diary format *restricted access*
Box 11
- Green Templeton College Notebooks 1-14 (2010-2015)
- Notebooks from 2000s (some of which are numbered)
Box 12
- Notebooks from 2000s continued
- IOE Notebooks 1-15 (there is no Number 12)
Box 13
- Series of notebooks numbered 0-20 covering the period 22nd March 1989 to 30th September 2007. There are no notebooks 11, Aug 1999-Apr 2000) 13 (Feb 2001-Jan 2002) 16-19 (covering November 2003-Jan 2007)
- Diary from 1966
- Notebooks covering the period 1967- 1972; 1975; Aug 1985-March 1989
- Cricket notebook
- Certificate for Doctor of Education from the University of Bath, 2005, with official photograph
- "The Great Job Hunt 1975-1976"
Box 14 & 15
Articles (2 boxes) - originally stored in box files marked 1-3
Box 16
Articles box 3
In addition, the following articles / papers were in their own folders:
- Rescuing the history of American philosophy (unpublished) October 1976
- Idealism and militarism: Josiah Royce and the First World War, September 1985
- The abolitionist world view: a case study (unpublished) May 1972
- Society theory and national culture: the case of British and American absolute idealism 1860-1900 (unpublished) April 1979
- Idealism and public education: the St Louis Hegelians and Oxford Idealists 1860-1914 (unpublished final draft) September 1979
- Book reviews
Box 17 & 18 - the papers from these boxes were removed from a series of box files containing personal and professional papers organised by year. A sample of personal papers were retained e.g. examples of local concerts David played in, or examples of his personal interests However the majority of papers relate to his education and employment. The files generally contain correspondence, invitations to events, lectures / talks / introductions at degree ceremonies, arrangements and speeches at honorary degree ceremonies (where David was receiving the award)
Box 17
Annual files: 1971, 1972, 1973-4, 1979-1980, 1984, 1986, 1987-1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004
Box 18
- Annual files: 2005, 2006, [2007]-2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014.
- Brighton University Prospectuses - introductions by David Watson for each year 1993-2005 except 2001, 2002, 2004)
- Green Templeton College Oxford - employment records including annual reviews and handover notes Jan 2015, notebooks (2010-2015)
Box 19 (oversize)
Scrapbooks - David kept scrapbooks on a wide range of subjects and each item stuck into the scrapbook had some meaning to David. e.g. he knew the individual, work/ed at the organisation, had an interest in the subject (e.g. cricket). The tend to include newspaper cuttings, articles, programmes from concerts David played in etc. Arranged by date.
- 1969
- 1978/1979
- 3/1982 - 12/1987
- 1/1988
- 12/88
- 3/90 |
| AdminHistory | Professor Sir David Watson was Vice-Chancellor of Brighton University between 1990 and 2005. He left Brighton to become Professor of Higher Education Management at the Institute of Education in London between 2005 and 2010. Watson was knighted in 1998 for his services to the higher education sector. He died in 2015, aged 65. |