Pusey House is a home for materials on 19th century English church history, especially the Oxford Movement. This Movement, which the House was founded in 1882 to commemorate, brought pre-Reformation Catholic traditions back into the Anglican Church, transforming the way in which many English Christians worshipped. In our Victorian reading room in central Oxford, you can explore the original letters and papers of the Movement’s leaders, including Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Revd John Keble, The Revd Henry Parry Liddon, and St John Henry Newman.
Complementing the Archive is a collection of over 75,000 books, featuring church history from all periods, plus works on liturgy, doctrinal theology, and patristics. Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey’s personal library forms the heart of the collection, but we continue to expand and develop with the latest scholarship. Several hundred of Dr Pusey’s own books date from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, making the collection interesting to researchers studying the history of printing, as well as church historians. Pusey’s very oldest book is an incunable featuring the writings of St Thomas Aquinas, printed in 1475 by Anton Koberger.
Our beautiful location is ideal for researchers wishing to incorporate a visit to the Bodleian, to the Colleges, or to Oxford’s famous churches. In these unusual times, we’re also happy to provide digital scans of our resources wherever possible, and will do all we can to support your studies remotely.
If you’re thinking of visiting, please take a look at our induction video for new readers, and book your study desk. For online study recommendations, see our LibGuide.
We hope to welcome you soon to the Pusey House community!
Images, clockwise: The Victorian reading room at Pusey House; a 1475 incunable owned by Dr Edward Bouverie Pusey; a letter by Dr Pusey’s brother, William, recently discovered in one of our books; the majestic tower of Pusey House, designed by Temple Moore in 1912.
All images © The Principal and Chapter of Pusey House. For more photos, check out our Instagram accounts, @puseyhouse and @pusey.librarian, and for detailed information, see our website.