The tenth object in our 450th anniversary digital exhibition series ’12 Objects’ features a 1969 staff photograph. 

It may be the Fellows or the students of an Oxbridge College which attract most attention, but no College could function without its non-academic staff working away in the background, whether they are cleaning rooms, cooking and serving food, or helping administer the different departments of the College. Staff members have an essential role in College life, but it is one that is easy to pass over. This object, therefore, aims to pay tribute to College members of staff in this anniversary year.

In 1969 a group photo was taken of all College members of staff. Surprisingly, perhaps, this appears to be the earliest such photo in our archives. There are some remarkable links, though, with earlier ages: one of the staff members photographed was Fred Reely, who had first come to work at the College in 1900, became Head Porter, and carried on doing so for us until he finally retired in 1970, after seven decades’ service to Jesus. The photo also shows many women then working for the College – clear proof that Jesus was not a completely all-male establishment before the first women students arrived in 1974.

In a new film, College Archivist Dr. Robin Darwall-Smith, Head Chef Anand Dube and Catering Team Member Anne Gahungu discuss the 1969 photo, and talk about how their roles differ from their predecessors. Watch here.