Acta

Congregation of the Regent House on 26 October 2019

A Congregation of the Regent House was held at 11 a.m. All of the Graces submitted to the Regent House (Reporter, 6564, 2019–20, p. 72) were approved.

The following titular degree and degrees were conferred:

in person

Master of Arts (honoris causa)

[Grace 1 of 19 July 2019]

Joan Winterkorn

Consultant and expert adviser to HM Government on archives and on literary and historical manuscripts,
Benson Medallist, bibliophile
 

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The Orator made the following speech when presenting to the Vice-Chancellor the recipient of the Honorary Degree of Master of Arts.

SI eo maioris existimandum est decus quo rarius offertur, quid apud nos pluris est habendum, Magistri, quam ut atram pallam proferentes hominem egregium in hunc nostrum ordinem honoris causa ascribamus? qua re hodie congregati sumus, ut etiam firmius ad nos alligemus mulierem longa amicitia nobis coniunctam. nam e quo tempore germana patria relicta in hac urbe consedit, tanta beneuolentia per xl fere annos otium et scientiam in usum nostrum collocauit ut nemo possit dubitare quin iampridem deceat eam intimam nostram familiarem iudicari.

ea adiuuante Collegium Churchillianum adeptum est istius ciuitatis principis tabellas cuius nomine ornatum est. ea adiuuante et tui, domina ingenio ferrea, principatus monumenta. ea interprete et Margaritae alterius facundioris, et tuae, Segofrede, magni belli uates, syngraphae in nostra Bibliotheca repositae sunt. nec uero pro huius tantum Vniuersitatis bono laborat, nam quae est bibliotheca cuius intra comptos ebore ac uitro parietes nomen eius non reuerenter susurritur?

quam multum interest inter hanc mulierem et istum apud Lucianum librorum helluonem cui non διαγνῶναι δυνατόν, τίνα μὲν πολλοῦ ἄξια, τίνα δὲ φαῦλα! eam solent consulere aerario praefecti si quis loco uectigalis stipendiarii debiti litteras quasdam in publicum uult deponere. ea de rebus ad artem attinentibus decernit, utrum exportari possint an tanti sint momenti ut pro decore ciuitatis sint retinendae.

haud timeo affirmare eam in uera historiae materia uersari. sed si quare in huius generis labore desudare pergat requiritis, ‘tabulas aestimare’ inquit ‘ita gaudeo ut mihi uel arculam uel capsam uel scrinium perscrutanti litterae ipsae allocutae fabulam suam enarrare uideantur. nescio enim quid inuentura sim praeter quod aliquid inauditum semper latet patefaciendum.’

dignissime domine, Domine Procancellarie, et tota academia, praesento uobis egregiam hanc mulierem librorum amantissimam, ciuitatis ducum fidam consultricem, tabularum publicarum ac priuatarum aestimatricem, nomismate Bensoniano ornatam,

JOAN WINTERKORN,

ut honoris causa habeat titulum gradus Magistri in Artibus.

IF an honour is more valuable the more rarely it is conferred, what higher decoration can we bestow than to proffer someone the black gown of a Master of Arts and welcome them into our circle? And it is for that purpose that we are gathered here today, to bind to ourselves even more closely a woman who has already been joined to us in long friendship. Some forty years ago she left the United States and made Cambridge her home, and since then she has given us of her time and expertise with such generosity that there can be no doubt that she is our close friend.

With her help the papers of Winston Churchill were acquired by the College which bears his name; with her help, too, the records of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership reside alongside them. It was through her mediation that the archives of Dame Margaret Drabble and of Siegfried Sassoon came to the University Library. Nor does she work only for the good of this University: there is scarcely a research library in the land where her name is not whispered reverently.

She is the very antithesis of Lucian’s book-collector who could not tell apart the wheat from the chaff! She advises the Treasury when somebody asks to donate their papers in lieu of paying taxes. It she who decides whether a cultural object is too important to be exported, but must be kept as a national treasure.

Her business is the raw material of history, and if you ask why she does what she does, ‘I love the process of valuing archives,’ she says, ‘of exploring a box, a trunk, a room full of papers and letting them tell me their story. I never know what I might find, and in every archive there is something unexpected and revealing.’

Distinguished Vice-Chancellor, members of the University, I present to you

JOAN WINTERKORN,

consultant and expert adviser to Her Majesty’s Government on archives and on literary and historical manuscripts,
Benson Medallist, bibliophile,

that she may receive the title of the degree of Master of Arts, honoris causa.

E. M. C. RAMPTON, Registrary

END OF THE OFFICIAL PART OF THE ‘REPORTER’