Archives and Special Collections: Durham Cathedral Collections: Churchmen's papers

With Durham Cathedral Library (buildings within the cloisters)

The personal papers of Herbert Hensley Henson, including in particular his series of journals from 1885 to 1947.  See also the Henson Journals project website.

Sermons of Archdeacon John Sharp (1723-1792) and annotated bibles belonging to Bishop Edward Chandler (ca.1660-1750)

With University Library and Collections (Barker Research Library)

Collections of service papers include the Gordon Berriman and Ferens papers.

Papers of bishops of Durham include the following (dates are of their office as bishops of Durham):

• Joseph Barber Lightfoot (1879-1889), sermons, letters and academic papers
• Alwyn Terrell Petre Williams (1939-1952), sermons and lectures
• Ian Thomas Ramsey (1966-1972), personal and academic papers
• John Habgood (1973-1983), in connection with the production of the Alternative Service Book, 1968-1981

Papers of other clerics and associated records include:

• Thomas Comber (dean of Durham and liturgist, 1645-1699), also including papers of his grandson Thomas Comber (1765-1835) and of his mother-in-law Alice Thornton (autobiographer, 1626–1707)
• Charles Thorp (archdeacon 1783-1862): letters from Bishop William Van Mildert (including on the foundation of the University of Durham)
• Richard Charles Coxe (archdeacon of Lindisfarne, 1799-1865): letters
• Alfred Robert Tucker (bishop of Uganda, 1849-1914): letters, photographs, cuttings etc
• Samuel Kirshbaum Knight (bishop of Jarrow and archdeacon of Durham, died 1932): sermons, talks and academic papers
• Henry Cecil Ferens (solicitor and diocesan registrar, 1899-1975):  service papers
• Eric Dawson Dawson-Walker (clergyman, born 1907): chiefly diaries 1926-1940
• H.E.W. Turner (clergyman, active 1951-1973): files from Archbishop's Commission on Christian Doctrine, Church's Council on Foreign Relations et al
• Gordon Robertson Berriman (clergyman, 1917-1981):  service papers
• Charles Henry Gordon Hopkins (clergyman, died 1988): chiefly sermon notes and correspondence

With the exception of a digital edition of the Henson journals for 1900-1939 being made available online by the Henson Journals project, these collections have not been digitised.  Collection guides are available for each collection from the links above, but only a few of the collections are catalogued in any detail.

If you would like to purchase digital copies of specific items from any of our collections, please get in touch.

If you are a member of teaching staff at Durham University and would like to use material from Archives and Special Collections within your lectures or seminars, we may be able to scan or photograph items for this purpose.  Please contact us as early as possible with any teaching digitisation requests.

See also our guide to Digitised Collections Online for further information on our digital resources.