Following this, he continued his studies at a private tutorial college, Marcon's Hall, and gained degrees in 1896, when he was elected to the Society of Antiquaries.
[1] Percy Manning began to collect in the 1890s, through archaeological fieldwork, gathering oral histories, and purchasing rare books and manuscripts.
His collection represented traditional antiquarian interests, such as church and manorial history, but he was notably active in his search to record local customs and folklore.
In 1898, he worked to equip the Headington Quarry Morris dancers for a performance in the Oxford corn exchange.
They continued to perform after this event, and their encounter with Cecil Sharp was the beginning of the folk-song revival in England.