Lady Margaret Hall was founded as the first College for the education of women in 1878 and voted to admit men a century later in 1978. This accounts for a very interesting collection of portraits of early and very distinguished women academics. A number of these women, including the Principals Lynda Grier, Dame Lucy Sutherland and Sally Chilver, actively collected paintings by their contemporaries, eventually leaving many of these works to the College. Interest in the arts continues with a new Fellow in Fine Art, Elizabeth Price, shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 2012, undergraduate Fine Artists, and Graduate Art Historians. The Jerwood Room in College  serves as an exhibition space, and acquisitions from these exhibitions, including by Maggi Hambling, continue to expand the collection. It is stressed that the paintings at Lady Margaret Hall are not in public ownership. In accordance with the charitable aims of the College, which is a private institution, we are including our paintings on this website to widen public awareness and for the benefit of scholarship. The College is private and the paintings are not on public display. If you have a serious scholarly enquiry, please contact the Keeper of Pictures via the website.