ABSTRACT
On 20 February 1999 Ruskin College, Oxford celebrated its hundredth birthday. It was a glorious and emotional day caught on camera in a mood of celebration, commitment and validation of Ruskin’s presence in the world, and of its spirited affection in the hearts and minds of the former students and well wishers who attended the centenary gala in the town hall. A hundred years earlier, photographs from the college archive show the same venue, packed from floor to ceiling with representatives of educational, co-operative, Christian socialist, labour and working class movements – dressed in their Sunday best – together with liberal academics from Oxford University, all keen to be associated with this new ‘college of the people’ (Pollins 1984: 9).
