The Classical Association: The First Century 1903-2003

The Classical Association was founded in 1903 to defend and promote the subject, at a time when classics was in danger of having its previously entrenched position in schools and universities seriously eroded. In its early years it campaigned vigorously: among classicists, for the reform of syllabuses and teaching, in the wider world, for a fair share of curricula and an acknowledgement of what it could offer to education. Later in the century it was heavily involved in the debates surrounding the abolition of compulsory Latin at Oxford and Cambridge (1960) and the establishment of the National Curriculum (1988), in which classics was not mentioned. Today it organises the major British classical conference each year, as well as publishing the leading academic journals, Classical Review and Classical Quarterly, and for a wider public, Greece and Rome. The book aims to provide both a narrative history of the CA in the 20th century and a series of studies of different aspects of its work. Thus it begins with an account of the foundation and early years, and a chapter is devoted to the difficult period of the late 1950s and ‘60s, when pupil numbers declined and classics teachers were forced to reassess their subject and the nature of their commitment to it. The narrative section ends with a detailed account of the CA’s last thirty years. This is followed by accounts of the Association’s branches, conferences and journals, and ends with a discussion of the long series of presidential addresses (three of which are reprinted). A centenary account of the Classical Association of Scotland (founded in 1902) is also included. Several appendices provide factual information on the presidents and other officers, and on the Association’s archives.