THE stories of college students who fought in the Second World War will come to life when a city college opens its archives.

Documents, letters and cuttings about Oxford University college St Edmund Hall students who went to fight, will be the subject of a talk tomorrow.

The Queen’s Lane college will also open its archive — including a 1682 benefactors’ book — today from 10am to 5pm and tomorrow from 10am to 2.30pm.

Other items include minute books of clubs and societies and personal diaries and photograph albums of students.

It is part of a national Explore Your Archive campaign aimed at encouraging great UK institutions to open their historical treasures.

Former college archivist Rebecca Shorter will speak about the “story box” at 3pm tomorrow in the college’s Old Dining Hall.

She said: “Visiting or working in an archive is like an adventure — you end up discovering much more than you imagined. Archives can be beautiful, moving, or just quirky, and always connect you with real people in the past.”

Among those who have used the archive is Sue Dowding, researching her father John Woodman Dowding.

She said: “When we met the archivist, we were amazed to find correspondence between my grandfather, the Principal and the Master of Marlborough about John coming up to St Edmund Hall. Subsequent correspondence revealed graduation details and attempts to find employment prior to the outbreak of war in 1939.

“My father then corresponded regularly with the Principal, describing where he had been evacuated at Dunkirk, then his sea voyage out to Singapore and life as a prisoner of war.

“The final set of correspondence was full of better and more positive news of a brighter future as a solicitor settled with a wife and family.”

Fellow in History Nick Davidson said: “Rebecca has gathered a moving set of records from the college archive, records that give us a real sense of the soldier’s experience in the 20th century – a remarkable testimony to the Hall’s former students.”