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1 Towards Professionalism? Archives and Archivists in England Towards Professionalism? Archives and Archivists in England in the 20th Century Elizabeth Jane Shepherd University College London PhD in Archive Studies 2004 1 Abstract Archives have the potential to change people’s lives. They are ‘a fundamental bulwark of our democracy, our culture, our community and personal identity’.1 They are created in the first instance for the ‘conduct of business and to support accountability’, but they also ‘meet the requirements of society for transparency and the protection of rights’, they underpin citizen’s rights in a democratic state and are the raw material of our history and memory.2 Archivists and records managers are the professionals responsible for ensuring that these qualities are protected and exploited for the public good. Do they belong to a mature profession, equipped for this challenge in the 21st century? This thesis seeks to understand how the archive profession in the United Kingdom (particularly in England) developed during the 19th and 20th centuries by examining the political and legislative context for archives, analysing how archival institutions developed in central and local government, business and in universities to preserve and provide access to records and archives, by considering the growth and influence of professional associations and support bodies and reviewing the education and training of archivists and records managers. None of these themes has previously been addressed in a comprehensive study and together they help answer the question of whether archivists display the characteristics of a fully mature profession or whether it is still an emerging profession. In conclusion the thesis makes recommendations to guide the development of the UK archive profession in the 21st century to enable it to reach its full potential and ensure that archives and archivists play their proper role in society. 1 Nicholas Kingsley, Chairman, National Council on Archives, National Council on Archives Changing the future of our past Cheltenham: National Council on Archives, 2002: 3. 2 Elizabeth Shepherd & Geoffrey Yeo Managing records: a handbook of principles and practice London: Facet Publishing, 2003: xii. 2 Table of contents Page Abstract 2 Table of contents 3 Acknowledgments 4 Declaration 4 List of abbreviations 5 Introduction 7 Setting the Context: how government shaped the UK archives profession Chapter 1 Commissions, Legislation and Reports, 1800-1950 23 Chapter 2 From Grigg to the National Archives, 1950-2003 54 A National Archival System or Strength in Diversity: the development of record offices, 1838-2003 Chapter 3 National Archival Institutions, 1838-2003 78 Chapter 4 Diversity of Provision: local and specialist archives 113 From Scholarly Preoccupations Towards Professionalism: the development of professional associations and support bodies Chapter 5 Historical and Scholarly Associations, 1880-1945 152 Chapter 6 The Society of Archivists and beyond, 1945-2003 170 Gatekeepers to the Profession: fifty years of archival education Chapter 7 Archival Education, 1880-1980 209 Chapter 8 Specialisation, Expansion and Development of Professional Education, 241 1960-2003 Conclusion 272 Bibliography 281 3 Acknowledgments Many people have enabled me to complete this thesis. I must first thank my long-suffering supervisors, Michael Roper for his encyclopaedic knowledge of the literature, John McIlwaine who endeavoured to teach me a proper style of citation and Elizabeth Danbury for her perceptive and practical comments. I am grateful for the support of successive Directors, Ia McIlwaine and Susan Hockey, and academic colleagues whose tolerance gave me time to write up. I owe a particular debt to Anne Thurston who reshaped my understanding of the discipline and to Vic Gray who has been my professional mentor and guide. I am grateful to my former and present PhD students from whose experiences I have learned. Without the understanding of my family I would have given up long ago. They will be glad that it is all over! I am indebted to many people but am alone responsible for the conclusions and any mistakes. Declaration I declare that this thesis is all my own work and that I have acknowledged all my sources. Elizabeth Jane Shepherd 4 List of abbreviations A2A Access to Archives (strand of NAN) ACA Association of County Archivists ACALG Association of Chief Archivists in Local Government ACW Archive Network Wales ARMA American Records Management Association Aslib Association of Special Libraries ATF Archives Task Force (of Re:source) BAC Business Archives Council BCA Birmingham City Archives Bod Lib University of Oxford, Bodleian Library BRA British Records Association BRS British Record Society BSI British Standards Institute CHNTO Cultural Heritage National Training Organisation CPBA Council for the Preservation of Business Archives DRO Departmental Record Officer (in UK central government departments) EAD Encoded Archival Description FARMER Forum for Archives and Records Management Education and Research FoI Freedom of information HLF Heritage Lottery Fund HMC Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts (1869-2003) ICA International Council on Archives IHR Institute of Historical Research, London IRMC International Records Management Council ISAD(G) International standard for archival description (general) ISNTO Information Services National Training Organisation JISC Joint Information Systems Committee (of Higher Education Funding Councils) LA Library Association LMA London Metropolitan Archives MAD Manual of archival description NAN National Archives Network NCA National Council on Archives nd no date (of publication) np no place (of publication) 5 NRA National Register of Archives PRO Public Record Office (of England, Wales and the UK) (1838-2003) PRONI Public Record Office of Northern Ireland RMG Records Management Group (of SoA) RPS Records Preservation Section (of BRA) SCAN Scottish Archive Network SCONUL Standing Council on National University Libraries SLAIS School of Library, Archive and Information Studies, UCL S/NVQs Scottish/National Vocational Qualifications SoA Society of Archivists SRO Scottish Record Office (after 1999, National Archives of Scotland) SSRC Social Sciences Research Council TNA The National Archives (of England, Wales and the UK) (2003-) ts typescript UCL University College London UCLL UCL Library UCLRO UCL Records Office UCNW University College of North Wales, Bangor (later University of Wales, Bangor) ULL University of London Library ULivA University of Liverpool Archives ULivH University of Liverpool, Department of History UWA University of Wales, Aberystwyth, Department of History UWB University of Wales, Bangor, Main Library, Department of Manuscripts VCH The Victoria History of the Counties of England 6 Introduction Justification of topic Archives have the potential to change people’s lives. They are ‘a fundamental bulwark of our democracy, our culture, our community and personal identity’.3 They are created in the first instance for the ‘conduct of business and to support accountability’, but they also ‘meet the requirements of society for transparency and the protection of rights’,4 they underpin citizen’s rights in a democratic state and are the raw material of our history and memory. Archivists and records managers have a responsibility to ensure that these qualities are protected and exploited for the public good. What does it mean to be an archivist and records manager in the UK in the 21st century? What is the definition of the profession of archivist? Is it a mature profession equipped for the challenges of the 21st century? Is there diversity or unity in the domain? Unless we can answer these questions we will not be able to shape the future of the profession. If we cannot define where we are and what we are now we cannot have a meaningful discussion about the direction in which the archival profession should go in the new millennium. Nor can we prioritise our activities, co-ordinate and direct professional development. In the 20th century British archivists were slow to discuss and develop professional issues on a national scale. There were achievements but they were local, often a result of individual initiative. Many of these achievements were remarkable and worthwhile, but they present a picture of piecemeal and disparate activity. Great strides could be made if we first agreed on the direction to be taken: a greater unity of purpose in the first years of the 21st century has already shown how much progress the profession can make. In deciding where the profession should go, it is important to understand where it came from and to analyse the influences which brought it to where it is today. This thesis seeks to lay the foundations for this understanding by researching and analysing a number of themes, none of which has been addressed previously in a comprehensive study. It takes the UK, particularly England, as its geographical focus. The main temporal focus of the thesis is the 20th century when archives began to emerge as a separate profession, but the antecedents of the 20th century developments are traced from the Public Record Office Act 1838, the commencement of building of the Public Record Office in 1851 and other key 19th century events. The thesis brings the story up to the formation of the National Archives in April 2003. 3 NCA Changing: 3. 4 Shepherd & Yeo: xii. 7 In this study, records are defined as ‘recorded evidence of activity’,5 and archives are records which have long term value and are preserved for their
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