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Nine centuries of school history, one conversation away.

Prospectuses, a century of school magazines, speech-day programmes and photography — digitised, searchable and answered for you by an AI archivist trained on the source material itself.

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In the archive
1799A Discourse on Reading School
1898School Prospectus
1958Speech Day Programme
26k+ more
i.

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The Archivist reads every document in the collection, finds what's relevant, and answers in plain English with sources you can verify.

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i.
Compare eras in seconds
Ask how the 1898 Prospectus differs from the c. 1953 Prospectus.
ii.
Explore events and speeches
Query Speech Day 1958, the Short History, and a century of school magazines for themes.
iii.
Interrogate specialist sources
Pull key ideas from the 1799 Discourse, JH Negatives, the school plaques and rowing notes.
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What changed between the 1898 and c. 1953 prospectuses?
Three shifts stand out. Curriculum moved from a Classics-led model to one with Science as a co-equal pillar. Boarding grew from two houses to four with a structured pastoral system. And examinations shifted from Oxford/Cambridge Locals to the GCE framework introduced in 1951.
1898 Prospectus, pp. 3, 7, 11
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ii.

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Real questions, real answers — the Archivist returns the actual scans from the collection, dated and sourced.

Show me maths papers from the 1960s.

Advanced Level Mathematics Paper I, 22 June 1960
Found 1960 GCE Advanced Level Mathematics · Paper I

Can you find any pictures of 'The Sorcerer' from 1967?

Reading and Kendrick Schools production of The Sorcerer, 1967
Found 1967 Reading & Kendrick Schools · 'The Sorcerer'

Show me cricket teams through the ages.

Reading School Cricket Club 1st XI, 1896
Earliest of 14 1896 Reading School C.C. · 1st XI

Was 'The Knight of the Burning Pestle' ever performed at the school?

Dramatic Society production of The Knight of the Burning Pestle, December 1958
Yes — found Dec 1958 Dramatic Society · 'The Knight of the Burning Pestle'

A selection of indexed documents.

A glimpse of the material currently inside the archive. The collection is added to regularly — sign in to browse and search the full set.

1799
Discourse
A Discourse on Reading School
1875–1899
Magazine
School Magazines
1898
Prospectus
Reading School Prospectus
c. 1953
Prospectus
Reading School Prospectus
1958
Speech Day
Speech Day Programme
1960
Examinations
Mathematics 'A' Paper
1972
History
Short History of Reading School
1925–1949
Magazine
School Magazines
1950–1974
Magazine
School Magazines
1975–2000
Magazine
School Magazines
Anthology
Magazine
School Magazines (Compiled)
c. 1985
Examinations
GCE 'A' Level Records
Archive
Sport
Ray Jessop's Notes on Rowing
Archive
Photography
JH Negatives
Archive
Photography
School Pictures
Archive
Photography
School Plaques

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