EC/8/1 Bursar accounts

This extensive series provides a financial record of everything that the Bursar was responsible for at Exeter College. From 1587 when the role was first constituted, the Bursar was responsible for collecting entrance fees and battels [e.g. fees paid for board and lodging] However this role has greatly expanded over the years to include all operations of the College such as leading on building projects (either new or refurbished), recruitment and supervision of Domestic staff, as well as other financial aspects such as insurance/taxation. Of note within this section are the first account books from 1587. These books refer to admissions of students, battel fees and other expenses. Thomas Pawley the first Bursar and Thomas Huishe the sub-Bursar are listed as having ‘computatis’ e.g. calculated the accounts.

EC/8/2 Official Duties

This small section provides details of the role of Bursar when it was first constituted, as well as the role of other staff such as Butler and Keeper of the Buttery. Of particular note is the Bursar's dictionary [1894] which gives further insight into the role, which was seen as a handover document for the new Bursar to adhere too.

EC/8/3 Buttery books

Buttery books were the domestic accounts of each member of the College for meals and services provided by the buttery, including candles and washing the hall linen. The books were kept for a full 52-week year divided into 4 terms of 13 weeks. The financial year began in September, but from about the 1650s this changed to June. The books record daily amounts for food and drink, with weekly totals and calculations and notes about suppliers and debtors on the front and back pages.  Some books include payments to suppliers and kitchen workers including some known as butter women. Exeter College has an extensive run of Buttery books covering 150 years from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, a period which saw a resurgence of the College’s fortunes after William Petre’s re-foundation of the College in 1566, then a gradual decline after the upheavals of the Civil War. This can be traced in the fluctuation in numbers of members of College in residence paying their dues.

EC/8/4 Battel accounts

This section, starting from just before the First World War began is a separate series of Battel accounts, kept and maintained by the Bursar which was the fee students paid for food and board.

EC/8/5 General Domestic accounts

A small series of general receipts and private bills, maintained by the Bursar, mostly for staff fees.

EC/8/6 Staff records

This comprehensive series of staff records provides details of Domestic staff - or servants as they were previously called - working at Exeter College in a variety of roles. Predominately a large amount of staff, were recruited to care for the students, as well as academic staff/Fellows living on site. This included roles within the kitchen preparing food or serving, or being a 'Staircase servant' to clean and make up rooms. There were also staff employed to manage aspects of the College which included Porter staff, General laborers, Gardeners, and Secretaries.

EC/8/7 Fuel accounts

Fuel was an important commodity to ensure that the College was heated during the cold winter months, but also for cooking purposes all year round. This small series highlights the amounts spent on coal and coke, but also electricity from 1899, although coal was still being used up until the 1960s. Of particular note are the periods during the First and Second World Wars when these accounts reflect the scarcity of coal availablity.

EC/8/8 Accommodation registers

Details of where students and staff were staying began to be recorded in registers in the eighteenth century. These were needed in order to keep abreast of changes for appropriating charging. Some students might not stay all year in college accommodation but could move elsewhere after just one term. These were also needed to record changes of staff accommodation

EC/8/9 Accommodation inventories

With increased volumes of students staying in available accommodation and moving around, inventories were created in order to check that students had left the accommodation as they had found it. Within this section also exists inventories of all rooms in the Rectors lodge. Sometimes this task was processed for insurance purposes as artwork was held in these spaces around Exeter College.

EC/8/10-12 Kitchen accounts 18th century-20th century

The kitchen staff maintained their own series of accounts alongside the Bursar accounts in order to correlate and budget money being spent on food and drink. The earliest seventeenth century accounts are amongst the first created as the current dining hall, along with adjoined kitchens began being built in 1618 and would have reopened probably from late 1620s.

EC/8/13 Kitchen suggestion books

These books were a way for students to communicate with kitchen staff. Suggestions were made but more often than not they were mostly complaints made by students about the state or lack of certain foods. Similar in vein to the Junior/Middle Common room suggestion books, they reflect the changes in history as tastes in food altered.

EC/8/14 Telephone

Telephone systems began to be introduced into Exeter College in 1955. This section contains original agreements for installation of new telecommunications at Exeter College including details of the first telephone extensions and telephone brochures.

EC/8/15 College notices

From time to time, information had to be widely distributed around College. The Bursar would therefore issue College notices that would be pinned up in various places, depending whether it was an internal notice just for staff, or for both staff and students to be aware off.