From College Library to Country House

September 7 – 11, 2026

From College Library to Country House is conceived from the perspective of the British aristocracy and gentry whose education centered upon preparing them to run their country estate, including the house and collections, and argues for the importance of the library and the book collection in this process.

Too often in country house studies the architecture, interior design and art collections have held sway; this course aims to foreground the College book collections at the disposal of the tutors and the subsequent development of the country house library. Libraries reveal not only the intellectual or recreational interests of past generations, but also how books manifest taste, fashion, and opportunities for display. Book historians and tutors well known in their respective fields will conduct the Course and will consider a broad variety of subjects including: book binding, the development of the idea of rare books and of book collections, library portraiture and questions of spatial analysis and mobility, all in the context of the collections housed in some of the oldest and most complete book rooms in Britain. 

This intensive, residential, five-day Course is based in the exceptional surrounding of St Catharine’s College, a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Directed by Dr. Andrew Moore with support from course coordinator Rita Grudzien, the program plans to visit a series of iconic libraries. These include the historic private library at Houghton Hall created by Robert Walpole, and Holkham Hall, home to one of the greatest private manuscript and printed book collections in Britain, house today in three of the country’s most important country house library rooms.

The Course includes the Old Libraries of St John’s College and Queens’ College; the Wren Library, Trinity; the Perne library at Peterhouse; the Parker Library at Corpus Christi; and the Founder’s Library at the Fitzwilliam Museum. Additional seminars will take place in the context of the historic book collections in the Cambridge University Library designed by Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960). St. Catharine’s College will host a seminar on the medical book collection of John Addenbrooke (1680-1719), founder of Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. 

For full course details and application instructions, please visit the link below. You will be redirected to the Attingham Trust website.

From College Libraries to Country House Information and Application

Applications Now Open

Deadline: February 15, 2026

US-based applicants who wish to apply for scholarship assistance may do so through the link below. Anyone awarded full scholarship funding from The American Friends of Attingham will be strongly encouraged to make a personal contribution of $250 to the American Friends of Attingham. 

Scholarship Application Form

Applications Now Open

Deadline: February 15, 2026

Image Credit: The library at Holkham Hall, Norfolk.