1929
Women Students
At the end of the 1920s there were fourteen women students attending classes regularly, nine wives of American students and also five women missionaries training or on furlough.
1932
Young women taking a lead
This session saw Ms Yi Chi from Manchuria an ordained missionary on Furlough studying at New College and also Ms J Tweedie-Stoddart leading light of the Theological Society.
1935
Merger of New College and University Faculty of Divinity
The Faculty of Divinity moved to New College and the space previously used by them in Old College was given to the Faculty of Law.
1937
A Galaxy of Speakers
In these years speakers at the New College Theological and Missionary Societies included Karl Barth, Reinhold Niebuhr, Donald Baillie, Joe Oldham and Archie Craig.
1938
30th year reunion of New College’s Divinity graduates 1938, ©The University of Edinburgh
Briefcase reveals the lifelong friendships of pre-war students
The contents of a suitcase from the NC archives capture the student days of the class of 1938.
1939
Intellectual life in wartime
Reinhold Niebuhr's Gifford Lectures were in delivered in the Rainy Hall, The Nature and Destiny of Man.
1941
“Fire watching duties during the Vacation”, ©The University of Edinburgh
Students watch over New College during air raids
Student fire watchers perched on the roof of the Assembly Hall to watch over the buildings during air raids.
1943
Baillie Commission sets post-war agenda
John Baillie's report to the General Assembly was influential in forming Christian attitudes to the post-war re-shaping of society.
1945
US Chaplains
US Army Chaplains had the opportunity to study at New College before being demobbed.
1963
Major shift in BD entry
For the first time it was possible to study for BD without have a prior degree in another subject.
1967
Alumni welcome women’s ordination in C of S
Women from New College such as Elizabeth Hewat, Margaret Forrester and Mary [Lusk] Levinson campaigned for ordination in Church of Scotland.
1967
Sectarian divisions soften
In 1967-8 a Catholic student in training for priesthood permitted by his bishop to take a BD and 2 Jesuits from Louvain were also studying at New College.
1970
Greek Orthodoxy in the Athens of the North
From 1970 to 1973 John Zizioulas lectured in patristics bringing a unique Eastern Orthodox perspective to New College.
1970
Foot of library hall 1977, ©The University of Edinburgh
Library snapshots
In 1970 Iain Hope captured the atmosphere of New College Library on film.
1971
Priests among the Presbyterians
The early 1970s saw the diversification of denominational perspectives.
1975
Life in space: the student view from the 1970s
The cartoons created for the New College Bulletin in 1975 and 1977 give a light hearted take on the student experience.
1978
Community and ownership in student publications
The School’s archive features a vast array of magazines and pamphlets produced by students over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Student newsletters, known variously as New College News, New...
1978
23rd reunion of New College’s Divinity graduates of 1938, ©The University of Edinburgh
Poems by former student reflect on ministry over the 20th century
Among the documents gifted to New College by the ‘Class of ’38’, who continued to meet annually for the lion’s share of the twentieth century, are a selection of...
1979
Pastoral care on a new footing
A new interest in the field of Practical Theology led to the first International Congress on Pastoral Care being held in Edinburgh.
1986
Fire Eating at New College
At an end-of-term lunch in the 1980s, a New College student had astonished everyone by demonstrating his fire-eating skills.
1990
Boom in student numbers
By the 1990s the number of students taking Religious Studies out numbered those on the BD.