ONLINE EXHIBITION 'The origins of the Maison Française d'Oxford (1946-1970)

Featuring original and unpublished documents and photographs, the show explores the history of the Maison and of the people who brought the institution alive.

You can access the exhibition in French and in English by clicking here.

"The exhibition "The origins of the MFO. 25 years of archives (1946-1970)" immerses us in the richness of a documentary collection that tells us about an MFO before the MFO. An MFO which needed extraordinary energy and resolve from those involved in its establishment and creation.

It shows us the path taken from the installation in Beaumont Street to the inauguration of the premises in Norham Road, from the hesitation surrounding the mission and hence the choice of the name of the institution to be created, to the balance found in research and research training.

It shows us an institution serving Franco-British relations and tells us about them, not through abstract analysis but within a material context, by highlighting their actors’ and champions’ every-day lives, by portraying the people who bring the institution alive.

This exhibition will help all our Oxonian, British and French friends to understand better what our institution is. We also hope that this exhibition will be a means for them to take back ownership of a history of the French presence in Oxford that is also their own."

Pascal Marty (MFO Director)

Pic: Plan by Eduardo Dodds, 1962 (MFO Archives)