The Friends of the Eton College Collections was formed in 1991 for people with a shared interest in the extraordinary and internationally significant archives, art, library and museum holdings of the College Collections.
By becoming a Friend, you will assist in protecting, preserving and adding to these collections. Your support will also help to ensure that this heritage remains open to the widest possible audience and continues to inspire learning and research.
Benefits for Friends include
- Events – access to members-only events, including expert talks and tailored displays
- Exhibitions – invitations to special views
- Collections Journal – discover more with your subscription, delivered regularly to your door
- Updates – keep up with news from the collections with regular e-bulletins
Join the Friends
Friends donate £30 per year. There is no extra charge for spouses to join as Friends.
To ensure your gift supports the College Collections, use this form; under the Payment Details section, in the ‘I would like my gift to support’ field, please select Historic Collections. Under Amount, please select £30 (or the equivalent over the course of a year).
Your data will be processed in accordance with the Eton College Privacy Policy, which can be found here.
For further information please email us or write to:
Friends of the Eton College Collections, Eton College, Windsor, SL4 6DW
Events
We hold at several special events for Friends every year. Recent events have included:
- Special view of the showing in London of the exhibition An Etonian Collector: The Richard Amis Bequest
- A carousel of talks by Eton curators on the theme ‘Processions, Pageantry and Parades’, including a special view of the exhibition Ad Montem and afternoon tea
- The Nijūichidaishū: Japan’s Imperial Waka Poetry Anthology (webinar) – talks by experts on Japanese poetry and art with a Q&A session
- A lecture on M.R. James by an Eton history master, accompanied by displays in College Library and the Provost’s Lodge
It was a terrific evening … so interesting. It was also lovely to be able to catch up with a few old and new friends beforehand.
Friend of the College Collections
Support for Conservation and Acquisitions
Acquisitions and conservation projects made possible by the Friends in recent years include:
- Acquisition of a lost manuscript on teaching at Eton, written by a fellow of the College (c.1745)
- Conservation of rare 19th-century costumes used in the Eton Montem procession, and of Richard Livesay’s late 18th-century painting of the procession
- Acquisition of Victorian silver plaques depicting Eton scenes, given by Old Etonians to actor-manager Charles Kean in 1859 in celebration of his career
- Commission of new candlesticks for Eton College Chapel by a leading contemporary silversmith
- Conservation of Odoardo Fialetti’s vast view of Venice (1611)
members of the Friends
