List of the Treasures held by Imperial College arising from the 2000 merger with Wye College.

Agricola Club members have expressed interest in what has happened to the various moveable assets of note (commonly called the ‘Wye Treasures’) acquired by Imperial College by its merger with Wye College in 2000 and subsequent closure of the Wye campus.  Some may wish to purchase items that Imperial College chooses to sell.  In the absence of a full and definitive inventory of Wye Treasures, the Agricola Club has assembled an interim list from a variety of sources but principally a document issued by Imperial College following a Freedom of Information Request.

Items that the Club knows have been disposed of or are clearly no longer in the possession of Imperial College (for a variety of reasons) have been removed from this list.  Imperial College has undertaken not to divest itself of further assets for the time being.  However, the list does not pretend to be definitive.

Responsibility for deciding what Imperial College wishes to retain as ‘core’ to its interests and which might be disposed of as ‘non-core’ is entirely within the judgement of Imperial College, However, the Agricola Club will make its view known to Imperial College on those items that, from the Wye perspective should be treated as ‘core’ because of their historical importance and/or their uniqueness.

Agricola Club members (and others) may wish to use this list as the starting point for making expressions of interest in purchasing particular Wye Treasures.  These expressions of interest will trigger .the consideration by Imperial College of assets on an individual basis (see the Imperial Treasures Policy below). However, Imperial College has expressed a preference for the Agricola Club to act as a post box for the initial handling requests.  

Imperial Treasures Policy

As well as having a number of collections of items and artefacts itself, as a result of mergers, Imperial has inherited treasures from the medical schools in the 1980s and 1990s and from Wye College in 2000. These items are now considered Imperial ‘College Treasures’. Although most of the collections have a direct scientific or academic connection with the College, there are some artefacts where this connection is more tenuous. The future categorising of the College Treasures will be into ‘core’ and ‘non core’ items. The criteria for both is as follows:

a) Core items: Core items will have a direct relationship with the academic work of the College and/or have a significant historical connection with the College

b) Non-core items: Non-core items will have no significant association with the College and have no reputational interest.

Core items will be retained by the College. Non-core items may be treated in two ways. Some items may be retained for stewardship by the College. Such items may be used by the College (e.g. paintings which may be displayed), or may be offered to another body such as a museum as a donation or under trust status. In certain cases, items may be returned to their original donors, in return for a charitable donation to e.g. the Student Opportunities Fund. Other non-core items will be offered to the College Fund for their exploitation or sale.

All items held in College Collections are considered to be ‘core’ unless and until a determination is made by the College Treasures Committee that an individual items should be categorised as ‘non-core’. Where the College receives an expression of interest in an individual item, that item will be assigned to a category in the first instance before any further discussion takes place with the person expressing the interest.