Following his appointment as Lecturer/Curator at the Bate Collection (his appointment letter, dated 10 December 1969, is to be found in the same folder), Baines contacted his old college, Christ Church, to receive his MA. The MA is granted to Oxford graduates at least 21 terms (seven years) after their matriculation into the University (which for Baines had taken place 39 years earlier, in 1930).
Baines’s note at the bottom of the letter indicates that he paid a supplementary £2 to have the degree conferred in absentia.
