First Warden's papers named National Archives highlight

Personal papers of Goldsmiths' first Warden which detail life during the First World War have been given special recognition by The National Archives.

The moving collection of documents from William Loring have been named as a highlighted collection in the WW1 Theme of the 2015 Accessions to Repositories list.   

The papers of Loring are held in Goldsmiths’ Special Collections & Archive and date mainly from when Loring was on leave from Goldsmiths as a Captain in the British Army during the First World War. 

They include many emotional messages to his wife and family. 

Lesley Ruthven, Special Collections & Archives Manager said: “Each year The National Archives creates the Accessions to Repositories list to let researchers and the public know what major collections have been added to archives around the UK. The family of William Loring – including his grandson David Loring – kindly donated the William Loring Papers to Goldsmiths in October 2015.

We are delighted that this fantastic collection has now been recognised this way.

The Loring Papers are a collection of letters sent from Loring to his wife, affectionately known as Theo. Loring died on 24 October 1915, succumbing to wounds received in the Gallipoli campaign. His final letter to his wife (“Dearest Theo”) is amongst his papers. The collection, which also includes a family photograph album and other treasures, is an invaluable record of an officer’s life in the British Army during WWI and sheds light on the character of the founding Warden of Goldsmiths College.

Before donating the papers, David Loring created a blog, which features transcriptions of all the letters and scans of the originals. 

Special Collections & Archives including the Goldsmiths Textile Collection holds a wealth of material relating to art practice, in particular especially women’s art practice, textile art, film, broadcasting, electronic music, including the Daphne Oram Archive, global textiles, folk and national music, Russian Music, theatre, including Black theatre and performance, literature, including children’s literature, women in music, rare books and the history of Goldsmiths.

The William Loring Papers and all our collections are available to be viewed by all.

Please contact Special Collections & Archives to make an appointment.

Special Collections & Archives
Library, Goldsmiths, University of London
020 7717 2295

special.collections (@gold.ac.uk)