author
William Dunn Macray
1826–1916
Best known for his history of the Bodleian Library, this Oxford scholar spent decades among manuscripts and turned archival work into lively, lasting reference books. He was also a clergyman and antiquary whose writing helped preserve the story of colleges, libraries, and church records.
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About the author
Born in London in 1826, William Dunn Macray was an English librarian, historian, and Church of England clergyman. He was educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, became a Fellow there, and was ordained in the middle of the nineteenth century.
Much of his working life was tied to the Bodleian Library, where he served for many years in the manuscripts department. He is chiefly remembered for Annals of the Bodleian Library, Oxford, A.D. 1598–A.D. 1867, a major history of one of Britain’s great research libraries, and for other scholarly works on charters, college records, and local history.
Macray also held church positions, including the rectory of Ducklington, and continued to be respected as an antiquary and archival scholar well into later life. He died in 1916, leaving behind work that remains useful to readers interested in Oxford, manuscripts, and the careful craft of historical record-keeping.