On his appointment in 1956 as Lecturer in Classics Method in the School of Education at
the University of Leeds, the late William Thompson began to collect classical school
books, initially for the use of PGCE students. From this small beginning there grew the
huge collection now part of the Special Collections in the Brotherton
Library in the University of Leeds.
The Collection, which comprises not only books but a large amount of aural & visual
and other non-book materials is a valuable research tool for
those working in the areas of the history of classical teaching in the UK as well as the
wider fields of educational history, psychology and sociology.
(Over the years William Thompson published a number of articles about the Collection the content of which overlaps a good deal. For the sake of completeness, however, all of these are included under Articles in the menu.)