‪Student recollections are most frequently used to illustrate studies based primarily on institutional sources. This article offers a serial examination of over 600 such recollections to highlight the specific potential of such a source. These come from a wide variety of authors, both male and female, describing school experiences from the beginning of the 16th century to the mid-19th century. Beginning with a critical examination of the types of written sources where these memories can be found, the article then considers the educational trajectories of the students and the diversity of those who taught them. Special attention is paid to learning to read, as well as to how former students portrayed their tutors in these written accounts. In each case, these memories enable us to nuance, and at times refute, widely held assumptions about the nature of teaching and learning and those involved prior to the emergence of State-funded institutions.‪