HOUSE OF LORDS RECORD OFFICE
REPORT FOR 1995
1 April 1995 - 31 March 1996
1. REVIEW OF THE YEAR
In October the greater part of the Record Office was moved to a new suite of rooms on the second floor of the South Front. This accommodation has many advantages, including a larger Search Room and more direct access for the public (see section 3 below). Thus equipped, the office is ready for its second half century.
The threat of further upheaval abated when the value-for-money enquiry board charged with considering the long-term accommodation needs of the Record Office reported, on 1 April 1996, that although it would be possible to convert some floors of the Victoria Tower into offices for peers, this would not be the most economical use of space (section 13). The demands of the enquiry for information of all kinds prompted the office to complete a space audit; this showed that, at the current rate, there should be space for up to 25 years' accessions.
A further, physical, challenge to the Victoria Tower came from the air-conditioning plants. Because they are unable to refrigerate, temperatures rose alarmingly during the hot summer months and in August one plant malfunctioned, raining water on to the floor below. Over 300 parchment rolls were affected to varying degrees. Prompt action prevented the onset of mould and our conservation staff have been able to restore the cockled parchment to its original, pliable state, though in a few places the text has been lost where the ink has run (section 6). Following this disaster a feasibility study was commissioned and designs are now being considered so that, hopefully, in a few years an efficient air-conditioning system will be installed.
The Santobrite Removal Project, begun in 1994, is progressing satisfactorily and soon the majority of Original Acts of Parliament will have been cleaned, repaired, relabelled and reshelved.
All these additional demands upon staff time have aggravated the problem, noticed last year, of an ever-increasing volume of deposits, particularly of administrative records. In an attempt to stem this flow, a discussion paper proposing a records management policy has been circulated in both Houses and, with official encouragement, staff are about to begin a survey of record- keeping practices within Parliament (section 4).
Our other more regular activities are described below. They have been incorporated into the first annual revision of our five-year strategic plan and, in the process, the aim and objectives of the Record Office have been slightly amended (Appendix I).
1 2. STAFF
CLERK OF THE RECORDS: D. J. Johnson, BA, FSA, FRHist.S
DEPUTY CLERK OF THE RECORDS: S. K. Ellison, BA, MSc
ASSISTANT CLERK OF THE RECORDS: D. L. Prior, BA, MPhil.
ARCHIVIST (Modern Collections): Ms K. V. Bligh, BA
ASSISTANT ARCHIVIST (Architectural Archives) (part-time): Lady Wedgwood, BA, FSA
ARCHIVES OFFICER: R. S. Harrison, BA
PERSONAL SECRETARY TO THE CLERK OF THE RECORDS: Mrs. P. M. O'Neil (to 16 August); Miss A. M. Pinder (from 31 July)
SECRETARY (part-time): Mrs. R. Copsey (to 29 September)
ASSISTANT ARCHIVES OFFICERS: M. J. Troke, BA; P. C. Goldstein
CONSERVATION STAFF SECONDED BY THE BRITISH LIBRARY BINDERY: Manager (part-time): B. Russell Working on book binding and manuscript repairs: M. Combe; C. Charles; Miss I. A. Cross; Miss E. Akers; Miss L. Heath; Working on plan repairs: B. Hopkins; R. G. Rackham
REPROGRAPHIC STAFF SECONDED BY HER MAJESTY'S STATIONERY OFFICE S. Chamberlain; Mrs. C. Korth; D. J. Trowbridge
REPOSITORY HOUSEMAIDS Mrs. C. Archer; Mrs. G. Neenham; Mrs. M. Cross
We record with great regret the death of Mr. Roy Russell on 3 June. As Overseer and later Production Manager of the British Library Bindery he had been a regular visitor to our conservation department since 1974. His advice on all matters concerning the technical conservation and preservation of documents was greatly appreciated.
All the staff changes this year have been amongst our secretaries: Mrs. Pam O'Neil retired after almost twelve years' devoted service as personal secretary to the Clerk of the Records; Mrs. Roberta Copsey, who had ably assisted her as part-time secretary, transferred to the Law Lords' Office; and Miss Annie Pinder has most efficiently taken both their places, having joined us from the Judicial Office. It is hoped that the general availability of word-processing facilities will reduce the amount of copy-typing to be done by the secretary.
2 David Prior organised a very successful conference on Modern Political Papers, on behalf of the Greater London Archives Network, at which Ms Bligh gave a paper. He is also a committee member of the Special Repositories Group of the Society of Archivists. David Johnson serves on the Society's Legislation Panel. Staff also attended conferences on various historical and archival matters, including a practical course on fire and flood salvage. David Johnson contributed `An Introduction to the Topography' of Joel Gascoyne's Map of Stepney 1702-04 published by the London Topographical Society. Stephen Ellison and David Prior served on the summary report teams of the Council of Europe and Western European Union respectively.
3. VICTORIA TOWER REPOSITORY AND ACCOMMODATION
As part of a reallocation of rooms throughout the Parliament Office, most of the staff of the Record Office were moved from the first to the second floor in October. (These moves will be completed in 1996-97 when the Plan Repair Room is reinstated in a first floor room hitherto used as an office.) In the same suite of rooms on the second floor is a new, larger Search Room with more table space (with sockets for lap-top computers inset), more shelving for finding aids and reference works, and a computer terminal and microfilm reader for the use of searchers; security has been improved by the provision of a wardrobe for searchers' coats and bags, a buzzer to contact other staff, and a closed-circuit television camera linked to an outside monitor. Off the adjacent corridor, embellished with a display case for recent acquisitions, are toilets (with provision for disabled persons), a photocopying room, a tea point, and a small store room suitable for bindery supplies, recent accessions and overnight storage. The new accommodation has involved a great deal of planning and considerable upheaval but is proving very convenient, not least because access from the new public entrance in Black Rod's Garden is direct.
The disaster which affected 330 parchment rolls at the end of August was the worst of several mishaps due to the ageing air-conditioning plants in the Victoria Tower. The hot summer also uncomfortably emphasised their inability to refrigerate. The Parliamentary Works Directorate therefore commissioned a feasibility study to investigate how best to air-condition the repository in accordance with British Standard 5454 while ensuring the safety of the records, ease of maintenance and energy conservation. The study produced several options which are now being considered prior to detailed planning in 1996-7. As the value-for-money report noted, this should eventually result in a highly satisfactory repository. (For a note on this report, see section 13 below.)
4. ACCESSIONS
The Record Office's attempt to persuade other departments of the benefits of good records management took a step forward when a discussion paper, drafted by David Prior, was circulated within both Houses and received official approval. Following this, it was agreed that the Record Office, augmented by a temporary member of staff, should conduct a survey of record keeping which would encompass both the official archives of Parliament and the increasing quantities of administrative records. In the process it is hoped that all departments will be able to identify those series which they need to keep for a limited period and those which
3 should be permanently preserved. The latter will be regular accessions to the Victoria Tower; the former will remain in the originating department or be deposited in a record management centre, yet to be established.
As a prelude to this files from both the Clerk of the Parliaments' Office and Black Rod's Office have been scrutinised and review dates established for certain files. A quantity of material from the Clerk of the Parliaments' office has been destroyed. Advice on this subject has also been given to the Speaker's Office in the House of Commons and the Record Office has continued to work closely with the Parliamentary Works Directorate. In addition, the Commons Committee Office conducted a review of the effectiveness of the existing guidelines for deposit of committee records which will serve as a useful basis for the Record Office's survey.
There were 179 separate accessions during the year. This represents an increase on 1994-5, which can partly be attributed to an increase in awareness of the office's records management activities. Some of the accessions were large in size: 187 files from Black Rod's Office, 272 bundles of Main Papers from the Lords' Journal and Information Office and 168 boxes of Unprinted Papers from the Commons' Library. Included in a large quantity of material from the Lords' Private Bill Office were the Channel Tunnel rail link plans and papers.
The office has continued to break new ground in respect of deposits; in particular files subject to review dates have been deposited by the House of Lords Establishment Office. The development of a space audit database has meant that it is now possible to calculate the total annual volume of accessions - 11.6 cubic metres - and to plan the efficient use of space in the Victoria Tower. The amount of available space has been increased by the move of recent House of Lords deposited plans to a nearby outstore.
The office has continued to add to its collections of non-official records. Of particular note is an eighteenth century notebook which has passages relating to the Wilkes affair and a small collection of nineteenth-century Le Marchant family papers (Sir Denis Le Marchant was Clerk of the House of Commons 1850-71).
The office is also grateful to a number of donors for runs of Hansards which will help to fill gaps in our holdings and so avoid recourse to the Libraries of the two Houses.
5. COMPUTER APPLICATIONS
Two database projects, both implemented with Headfast text retrieval software, are nearing completion in 1996 and are already accessible to the public in the Search Room. Dr. Kenton Bamford, researcher for the Transport History Research Trust, has entered data from Main Papers, Committee Books and volumes of Evidence about witnesses who gave evidence on transport bills before Lords private bill select committees between 1796 and 1914. Equivalent data from the Commons extracted from volumes of Evidence covers 1835-1900. Data has also been input for non-transport bills in the Lords for 1796-1900; similar data for the Lords and Commons up to 1914 will be entered during the summer. So far the database consists of 169,000 records. Later in 1996 the Office expects to publish a guide which will emphasise the
4 scope and potential of the database for historians. The manual catalogue of the architectural archive has also been converted to a database and is proving a valuable source for architects and surveyors requiring essential references to parliamentary architectural drawings.
With the value-for-money review of record office storage in mind dBase IV was used to create a database to analyse the results of a space audit of some 10,900 storage locations with a linear capacity of more than 6 miles.
Considerable progress has been made in editing an electronic version of the Guide to the Records of Parliament, which was published in 1971 and is now out of print. This text will be kept updated and, hopefully, published in a format still to be decided.
In March the office was connected to the Parliamentary Data and Video Network (PDVN), which gives access to a vast range of sources including POLIS (Parliamentary Online Information System - the established electronic index to Parliamentary printed materials), Hansards of the two Houses, CD ROMs held by the two Libraries, and the Internet itself. It also provides the Record Office with an e-mail address:
6. THE CONSERVATION DEPARTMENT
Last year work on repairing, filing and casing all the Main Papers up to 1800 was completed so that staff were able to concentrate on repairing the plans deposited with private bills - mostly plans of railways - of which many thousands are still untreated.
This task had to be abruptly halted in September when all hands were pressed into saving 330 Original Acts affected by water from a rogue air-conditioning plant. It was possible to dry some of the damp parchment rolls by laying them on blotting paper on the floor of the repository and using makeshift weights - spare steel shelves - but this, though successful in keeping the parchment flat, was time (and floor) consuming. To prevent mould becoming established it was decided to dry out the parchment as quickly as possible by draping the majority of the rolls over stacks or hanging them down the stair well of the Victoria Tower. In the warm atmosphere the parchment dried quickly but cockled. To restore it to its original shape and pliability, the rolls were unsewn, moisture was applied to the separate membranes through sheets of Gore-tex fabric and, with space limited, the membranes were stacked one above another separated by sheets of perspex. The results have proved the wisdom of not sending the wet parchment to be frozen.
The disaster was not allowed to disrupt the Santobrite removal project, performed by outside contractors, which is on schedule to remove all the tissue containing sodium pentachlorophenate from the Original Acts within three years.
As always and even more in emergencies we are grateful to Mr. Brian Russell and his colleagues in the British Library Bindery for advice on conservation matters.
5 The statistics below summarise the conservation work carried out for the Record Office; it does not include the work done for other departments within either House for whom the Record Office acts as agent.
House of Lords Deposited Plans: 1231 sheets of Lords deposited plans and 3865 sheets of ancillary deposits were cleaned, repaired, mounted and boxed.
Binding: 11 volumes were bound or rebound and lettered and 65 boxes were lettered.
Original Acts: 3396 membranes in 251 parchment rolls were relaxed, flattened, reshaped and resewn.
7. REPROGRAPHIC WORK
The recent accommodation changes, which enabled the reprographic staff to acquire a small room in close proximity to the Search Room for photocopying and checking microfilm, have lessened the movement of documents and produced a more effective service for the public. Consequent on forthcoming changes in House of Lords accommodation, the staff are also involved together with the Conservation staff in planning their respective facilities in a shared studio.
In 1995-96 the main feature of reprographic work has been steady progress in long term tasks, including security microfilming of Lords deposited plans and manuscript evidence and surveying stock microfilm.
Reprographic work carried out in the year ended 31 March 1996 is summarised below.
Security microfilming:
35mm Roll-filming: 182,233 frames, including 83,312 of evidence given before Lords select committees and 49,343 of the Beaverbrook Papers.
35mm Aperture cards: 6,508 of deposited plans, including some for sale to the public.
Survey of microfilm stock: 979 films checked and recorded on a database, re-filmed when necessary, boxed and labelled.
Reprographic copies for sale to the public:
692 A1 and 798 A4 electrostatic prints enlarged from microfilm, and 39,050 sheets of xerox.
The total number of customer orders was 861.
6 8. LISTING AND INDEXING
The process of despatching some 300 Original Acts for treatment each fortnight and counting the same number back continues to absorb staff time, as does the transferring of recent Plans to our outstore, a large-scale exercise begun this year. Cursory examination of some departments' records prior to the possible implementation of a records management policy has also required some temporary listing (see section 4 above).
There has therefore been less time available for the listing of regular accessions, notably Main Papers and committee papers, and for inputting the list of Historical Collections to a database. Nevertheless a finding aid has been produced for all current accessions, all memoranda publicised in committee reports as being available in this office are locatable, and the lists of both committee papers and other collections have been reorganised. Several donations of runs of Hansard have been incorporated into the appropriate sequences and the remaining gaps noted.
Reviewing, sorting, listing and boxing work carried out during the year, assisted by several work experience students, included the following:
House of Lords
Appeal Cases, Clerk of the Parliaments' office files, Black Rod's office files, Committee papers, Main Papers (to 1993), Leader of the House and Chief Whip's office files, Parliament Office papers, Public Bill Office files, deposited plans (boxed to 1850; transferred to outstore 1969-92).
House of Commons
Committee papers, Parliamentary Works Directorate files.
Historical Collections
Beaverbrook papers (series H and J), Lloyd George papers, Association of Lieutenants of Counties, new acquisitions.
9. THE SEARCH ROOM
2 October 1995 saw the opening of the new Search Room on the second floor of the South Front (see section 3 above). Extra shelving there together with new bookcases built in the adjacent corridor, and further shelving on floors one and two, are making possible the systematic relocation of the Record Office library - caused in part by the conversion of one office to a Plan Repair Room. More reference books, such as biographical dictionaries, are now on open shelves in the Search Room, the Journals of the two Houses and Public Statutes are readily available in the corridor, and other monographs and periodicals are nearby. It is hoped
7 to bring closer some runs of Hansard soon. Coupled with the availability of databases on the searchers' terminal and of microfilms on the reader/printer, the Search Room is indeed becoming a historical workshop.
Planning the new Search Room inevitably took time and the move itself caused some disruption. The Search Room was closed for three weeks to allow for this, and a further two for annual stocktaking, so that it is not surprising that the number of visits fell from last year's all- time high of 1490 to 1222, June being the busiest month. A high percentage of users - nearly 73% - came once only and a further 18% came two or three times, so the office cannot hope to rely on a substantial core of regular readers. Of the 469 new applicants, 25% were for official, legal or other business purposes; as last year, over 6% were genealogists. Some of the small but significant group from the media, 2.4%, came to inspect the register of peers' interests, the up- to-date version of which can be made available in the Search Room. A total of 8839 boxes, files, volumes or single documents were produced for use in the Search Room, an average of more than seven items for each visit. In addition 95 loans to other departments within the Palace were made.
The majority of searchers were pursuing various historical and literary enquiries. Half the subjects studied were twentieth century or contemporary topics including the Channel Tunnel Bill of 1905, Jewish military service in the First World War, the Egyptian state railway, the Greek civil war, birth of the welfare state, the British press and the cold war, history of the dairy industry, pollution, and the Scott Inquiry, as well as the perennial favourites of Anglo-Irish politics and histories of the Conservative and Labour Parties. Women's history throughout the ages has been popular, ranging from English aristocratic women, 1450-1550, to women in nineteenth century India and the activity of women MPs in the House of Commons in the twentieth century. A variety of biographical studies included Bishop Jonathan Trelawney, Edmund Burke, Henry Newbolt, Eleanor Rathbone, Ralph Blumenfeld and Bernard Weatherill.
As last year, 14% of all new searchers concentrated on local studies such as Ashby canal and railway, early Scottish railways, Wisley and Pyrford church history, the poor law in Sussex, land ownership in Claybrook Magna in Leicestershire and the history of Sutton House in Hackney. Just under 3% studied constitutional history including Henry VIII's parliaments, the rump parliament and parliamentary scrutiny of the Lord Chancellor's Department. Other topics included the history of the booktrade and copyright up to 1710, coffeehouse politics, social history of felt hat manufacture, ecclesiastical policy in North America 1745-1795, prison hulks and Victorian burial and mourning.
10. ARCHITECTURAL ARCHIVE
The Architectural Archive is approaching the completion of its main collections. It contains plans and illustrations, including photographs and documents, relating to the buildings of the Palace of Westminster. The major concentration is on the Victorian period but earlier references are also sought, as is material relating to the Parliamentary Estate in general.
The contents are fully catalogued and the information is now available to the public on a
8 computer database in the Search Room. Its archivist continues to be Lady Wedgwood who advises committees of both Houses, staff and members of the public. There is a close collaboration between the Architectural Archive and the Parliamentary Works Directorate, which has a Drawing Office where most recent schemes are retained; duplication is avoided where possible. The historic files of the Parliamentary Works Directorate are now kept in the Record Office but separate from the Architectural Archive.
Among acquisitions in 1995 has been material from the Royal Academy and the Royal Institute of British Architects relating to the Norman Shaw North and Norman Shaw South buildings.
11. PUBLICATIONS
The Report for 1994 (HLRO Memorandum No. 83) was published last summer. Other publications to which the office made some contribution were The Protestation Returns, 1641- 42, published by the Federation of Family History Societies, and 6 & 7 Old Palace Yard Restored 1994, a booklet commemorating the restoration of the sometime Clerk of the Parliaments' house by the Parliamentary Works Directorate.
A microfilm edition of the Braye Manuscripts now makes available the working and collected papers of John Browne, Clerk of the Parliaments 1640-91. They include a Commons diary from 1593, many draft Journals of the House of Lords, and miscellaneous parliamentary and state papers relating to the Civil War period and the Popish Plot. The 22 reels, entitled Parliamentary History: Part 2, the Braye Manuscripts from the House of Lords Record Office, cost ,1600 from Adam Matthew Publications, 8 Oxford Street, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 1AP. H. S. Cobb's A Handlist of the Braye Manuscripts in the House of Lords Record Office is issued with the microfilm edition and is also available from this office, price ,12.
Other microfilm editions of Record Office material are Parliamentary History: Part I, Manuscript Minutes, Committee Books and Voting Records [Proxy Books] of the House of Lords, 1620 - c 1714, available from Adam Matthew Publications in 36 reels for ,2500, and Politics and Statecraft in Early Modern England: the Main Papers of the House of Lords. The latter consists of 174 reels of the Main Papers from 1509 to 1715 and is available for ,9600 from Research Publications International, PO Box 45, Reading, RG1 8HF, though it is possible to purchase chronological sections of this material; for example, the Protestation Returns, in 17 reels, cost ,1105.
Attention should also be drawn to Voting Records of the British House of Commons 1761-1820, a 6-volume compilation by Donald E. Ginter published by Hambledon Press. Using unofficial division lists, this records their numbers against the official totals and shows how individual members voted in those divisions.
12. VISITS, LECTURES AND EXHIBITIONS
Staff gave lectures to students from the following colleges and societies:
9 Aberystwyth, University of Wales at, Archives Administration Course British Association for Local History Centre for Metropolitan History Historical Association Hull University, Economic and Social History Department Institute of Historical Research (2 groups) Lisbon University, School of Document Sciences Liverpool University, Archives Administration Course London School of Economics, Economic History Department Royal Holloway College (University of London), History Department Society of Genealogists Thorney Island Society University College London, School of Library, Archive and Information Studies.
We were also pleased to welcome several peers and M.P.s and Parliamentary Clerks, Librarians and Archivists from the following countries: Australia, Ghana, Israel, Kenya, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, USA and Zimbabwe.
Lady Wedgwood and the Clerk of the Records lectured to guides on a course run by the London Tourist Board, and Robert Harrison explained the rôle of the Record Office to new Parliamentary staff and to members of the Secretaries and Assistants Council.
We also record, gratefully, the help given by an increasing number of archive students and others seeking work experience in a record office, and particularly by Stuart Walton who spent many days producing an inventory of our Hansard holdings amongst other tasks.
Staff from this office visited the Docklands Library and Archive, Hackney Archives Department and the London Transport Archives, all by courtesy of the Greater London Archives Network, and the Oriental and India Office Collections, and received a group from the Public Record Office.
Small displays were provided for the Barber Surgeons Company, the Federation of Family History Societies and several groups of American visitors, and `soundbites' were disgorged for radio and television programmes on the `Gunpowder Plot' and for Tony Benn's video Westminster behind Closed Doors.
13. MISCELLANEA
Value for Money Review of Record Office Storage
In November the Clerk of the Parliaments appointed a board, which included a representative from the Public Record Office, to hold a value-for-money enquiry "To consider how best in the
10 long term to provide sufficient accommodation for the conservation and storage of the records of both Houses of Parliament in accordance with recognised professional standards, bearing in mind the pressure for additional accommodation for Members of both Houses within the Palace of Westminster." The board's report of 1 April 1996 contains a wide-ranging survey of the activities of the office and warns of the effects that a move would have upon it.
The board members found themselves in a dilemma. Bearing in mind the need of peers and MPs for additional accommodation they were led to consider moving the whole Record Office out of the Palace of Westminster and converting the vacated space in the Victoria Tower into as many as 84 offices. However, they realised that such offices would not be ideal: it was calculated that peers might take fifteen minutes to reach the division lobby from them and it was assumed that M.P.s would find them too distant; only some of the floors -those with windows - could be converted, more lifts would be needed and there would be restrictions on the water supply and on smoking; it was not even certain that an extra 84 offices were needed. To the cost of the resulting office accommodation, approximately ,3453 per square metre, would have to be added the cost of relocating the Record Office. While such a move would provide the opportunity to purpose-build a new office, with all its facilities conveniently arranged and with ample space for expansion, the cost would be approximately ,5 million, and that, added to the cost of converting the Victoria Tower, would produce a real figure of ,9550 per square metre for additional accommodation for peers. The board judged that although this option was possible it would be very expensive.
Having ruled out a partial move of the Record Office as having no advantages, financial or practical, the board then grasped the second horn of the dilemma: leaving the records in the Victoria Tower where, once new air conditioning had been installed, the storage would be very satisfactory. Calculations made during the course of the enquiry, using a database designed by Stephen Ellison, indicated that, with careful management, there would be space for up to 25 more years' accessions.
That would clearly be the kindest solution for the records - a solution which, logically, should not depend on the requirement to make room for others. If that course was adopted, further rooms for peers would have to be rented in the vicinity but it was estimated that those would be much cheaper than the cost of transforming the Victoria Tower. Besides, it would be possible to rent only as much office space as was actually required - a still unknown quantity. The board therefore concluded that on that basis "the most practical and cost effective means of providing sufficient accommodation for the storage and conservation of the records in the next 20-25 years is in the existing accommodation."
Conference on Modern Private Political and Parliamentary Papers
On behalf of the Greater London Archives Network, David Prior organised a well-attended conference in March which raised a number of issues particularly relevant to this office. The Chairman, Chris Cook, editor of the Longman Guide to Sources in Contemporary British History, remarked how interest in political papers had widened over the last 25 years to include environmental, ethnic and sexual issues and how these, in turn, had raised questions about
11 publicising acquisition policies, access and awareness.
Brian Sedgemore, MP for Hackney South and Shoredith, opened by asking why anybody should be interested in the papers of a backbench MP. One answer was that they revealed the various influences brought to bear on MPs; they were letters from the trenches. Another was that those MPs who cherished an `obsession' accumulated information - sometimes provided by whistle- blowers - not available elsewhere, and he cited his own investigations into banking frauds as an example. However it was only possible to make sense of such information if the MP also kept a detailed diary. Published memoirs might be sanitised versions of political diaries but the MP who kept his papers believed (and wished) that eventually the truth would out.
In discussion Mr. Sedgemore warned that lack of space forced many MPs to destroy papers, particularly at the end of a Parliament. David Mander, of Hackney Archives, recommended that constituency papers should be deposited locally because they were an important source for opinion on local government; it was therefore desirable for record offices to keep in contact with their local MPs.
Sue Donnelly, in describing the broad collecting policy of the British Library of Political and Economic Science, noted that the papers of backbenchers, civil servants, (often ephemeral) pressure groups, and journalists, could be more illuminating than those of ministers. She stressed the importance of making collecting policies known and advocated approaching possible depositors and distributing newsletters to readers and academics, who often provided useful feedback. When papers were being deposited it was important to clarify questions of ownership, copyright and access. Immediate access was favoured, but where a blanket closure was necessary the BLPES applied 20 years (or 100 years for personal, constituency material). With the dissolution of Parliament impending, Chris Cook urged archivists to approach MPs who had announced their forthcoming retirement and party organisations whose constituencies were to be altered.
Alan Kucia, of Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, dwelt on the question of access to various categories of political papers. Apart from unsorted collections, the centre's policy was to make as much available as possible. The degree of access was always discussed with the depositor but, while some families were particularly sensitive about their ancestors' secrets or weeded the papers before deposit, other depositors did not know all the papers that they were handing over. A restriction of 20-30 years was common, with 75-100 years for constituency papers. He cautioned that not all official papers could be released after 30 years, papers relating to secret negotiations with foreign governments, Ireland, the security services, nuclear weapons, and awards being restricted for up to 75 years. While he doubted whether any libel case had ever been brought against a record office, Churchill College nevertheless obliged all searchers to indemnify the college. Lady de Bellaigue explained that all records of the Royal Family were open up to the end of the last reign. Claus Brügmann confirmed that a 30-year closure period was standard in Bavaria.
Kate Bligh, of the House of Lords Record Office, described the history of the Beaverbrook Library before its absorption by that office. She thought that whenever possible the original arrangement of a collection should be preserved; where that had been lost as, for example, in the
12 Davidson Papers, which had been `rearranged' by several historians, a simple chronological order had to be adopted. Any list should be tailored to the archive in question and accompanied by an explanation and an index. She also described some basic weeding but James Collett- White, of Bedfordshire Record Office, thought that private papers should be selected on the basis of records management criteria.
Professor John Turner of Royal Holloway College gave the historian's viewpoint. He emphasised the need to know the context of each `bit of paper' - its place in a sequence (usually best explained by diaries), who received it and when, and whether it was a first or later draft. There was always more to the meaning than the words on the paper, a metaphysical approach which did little to solve the archivist's problem of deciding which `bits of paper' to keep. One result was that some young historians became paranoid when archivists could not produce the documents they expected. He agreed, therefore, that there was a need for greater understanding between the two professions.
The Jubilee of the Record Office
The House of Lords Record Office came into being in February 1946 with the appointment of "a qualified clerk to be employed whole-time on the care, arrangement and clerical work in connection with the documents." Francis Needham, the clerk, assisted by one messenger, supervised the return of documents to the Victoria Tower after their evacuation during the war but he found work in the damp, dirty and dangerous repository uncongenial and by December he had resigned and been replaced by Maurice Bond. During the latter's tenure of office over the next thirty five years the Record Office was created largely as we know it today: a Search Room was opened, conservation and reprographic services were provided, listing and calendaring work resumed, and the Victoria Tower was modernised and parliamentary documents welcomed to it with open arms.
Records had been accumulating in Parliament ever since 1497, in the custody of the Clerk of the Parliaments. In 1864 the most important were transferred from the mediaeval Jewel Tower to the newly-completed Victoria Tower. Although this building had been specifically designed as a record repository, no provision had then been made for anyone to look after the records; their care was deputed to any officer the Clerk of the Parliaments could spare from his other duties. From 1871 two Lords clerks had been paid to calendar the documents in their spare time and they also answered occasional postal queries and assisted the two or three students a month who asked to see the documents. Some House of Commons records were kept in the Victoria Tower from 1904 onwards but others remained in the Library and the Journal Office (and the Commons original Journals were not deposited in the Tower until 1957). This piecemeal treatment of the records caused repeated concern but not until 1937, in a report made to Sir Henry Badeley, Clerk of the Parliaments, was it suggested that an archivist should be appointed. As soon as the war was over this suggestion was implemented.
February 1996 therefore marks the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Record Office. However, as there are plans to commemorate the 500th anniversary of record keeping in Parliament in 1997, it seems more appropriate to celebrate the jubilee of the Record Office as
13 not the least important part of that greater history.
David J. Johnson July 1996 Clerk of the Records
14 APPENDIX I
AIM & OBJECTIVES 1995-96
AIM
To provide an effective records management and archive service for both Houses of Parliament and to make the records of Parliament available to the public for study.
OBJECTIVES
(i) To ensure that all the official records of both Houses of Parliament which are worthy of permanent retention are preserved.
(ii) To acquire and preserve other records of Parliamentary interest.
(iii) To provide sufficient accommodation to preserve the records in accordance with recognised professional standards.
(iv) To ensure that all records preserved receive the conservation they need.
(v) To provide effective user services to support the work of Parliament and to facilitate public access to the records.
(vi) To promote awareness of the history and records of Parliament.
(vii) To administer the office efficiently and economically to make the best use of all its resources, including staff.
15 APPENDIX II
DONATIONS OF REPORTS AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS, 1995
The Clerk of the Records acknowledges with thanks the receipt of reports and other publications from the following institutions:
Australian Archives Bank of England Birmingham City Archives Bodleian Library British Library Oriental and India Office Collections Buckinghamshire Record Office Canadian High Commission Clwyd Record Office Dyfed Archives Service East Sussex Record Office Gloucestershire Record Office Hertfordshire Record Office Lambeth Palace Library London, Corporation of Northamptonshire Record Office Northern Ireland, Public Record Office of Princeton University Art Museum Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts Royal Commission on Historical Monuments St. Andrews University Scottish Record Office Singapore National Archives Slovenia International Institute for Archival Science Southampton University Parkes Library Staffordshire Archive Service Suffolk Record Office Welsh Political Archive West Yorkshire Archive Service
The Clerk of the Records also acknowledges with gratitude the receipt of the following books, off-prints and other publications:
D. Eshkol (ed.), The Knesset - The House of Representatives (1994) European Commission Secretariat General, Archives in the European Union (1994) E. A. Fry, `The Wiltshire Protestation Returns of 1641-2' (Wiltshire Notes and Queries, 1911- 13), presented by J. Gibson J. Gibson, Oxfordshire and North Berkshire Protestation Returns and Tax Assessments 1641- 42 (Oxfordshire Record Society, 1994), and The Protestation Returns 1641-42 (Federation of Family History Societies, 1995)
16 M. C. Lowe, `The Exeter Turnpike Trust, 1753-1884' (Rep. Trans. Devon. Ass. Advmt. Sci., No. 127, 1995) A. N. Rigg, Cumbria, Slavery and the Textile Industrial Revolution (1995) Verein Deutscher Archivare, Parliaments - und Parteistiftungarchivare Berichten (Fachgruppe 6, Mitteilungen No. 19, 1993) C. W. Wickersham and G. H. Montague, The Olive Branch (New York Public Library 1954), presented by S. Howard Goldman.
17 APPENDIX III
ACCESSIONS 1995-96
The list of accessions which follows constitutes the 25th annual supplement to the Guide to the Records of Parliament (HMSO, 1971). Items marked with an asterisk are subject to public access restrictions.
House of Lords
Black Rod's Office: Records 1890-1994 (187 files)* State Opening papers 1959-90*
Chairman of Committees Office: Photographs of Peers 20th cent (1 album)
Clerk of the Parliaments' Office: Records 1971-95 (48 files)*
Committee Office: Committee for Privileges: Farnham Peerage Case papers European Communities Committee and Sub-Committees A, B, C, D, E & 1996 Inter-Governmental Conference: 23 boxes 1992-95 and 21 vols. 1974-84 Science and Technology Committee, Sub-Committees I & II: 9 boxes 1990-95 Sustainable Development Committee: 4 boxes 1993-95
Establishment Office: Records 1966-95 (5 boxes)*
Journal and Information Office: Main Papers 1993-94, 1994-95 (272 bundles and 14 plans) Manuscript minutes 1993-94 (2 boxes) Sessional statistics 1994-95 Annual statistics 1995
Judicial Office: Appeal cases 1994 (34 vols.) Petitions of appeal and index 1992-94 Petitions for leave to appeal 1993-94
Leader of the House and Chief Whip: Records 1960-94 (57 files)*
Private Bill Office: Unopposed Bill Committee proceedings 1956-77 (21 vols.)
18 Bill files 1987-94 (67 boxes) and 3 plans 1990-91, 1992-93 Channel Tunnel rail link plans and papers (18 boxes and 1 bundle) Scottish provisional orders 1984-89 (11 boxes) Transport and Works Act orders and plans 1995 (7 items) Joint Committee on Statutory Instruments records 1991-95 (27 boxes)
Public Bill Office: Original Acts 1994 Bill files 1993-94 House Bills 1993-94 Special Public Bill Committee papers 1993-95 (3 boxes)
Reading Clerk: Records 1988-94 (1 file)*
Record Office: Record of searchers 1981-94 (3 vols.)
Staff Superintendent: Records 1951-75 (1 file)*
House of Commons
Committee Office: (* but memoranda reported but not printed open to public inspection) Agriculture Committee: 5 files 1994-95 Defence Committee: 2 files 1994-96 Deregulation Committee: 1 file 1995-96 Employment Committee: 10 files 1992-96 Environment Committee: 9 files 1994-96 Education Committee: 1 box and 37 files 1991-96 European Legislation Committee: 626 files 1987-95 Foreign Affairs Committee: 1 file 1994-95 Health Committee: 9 files 1994-96 Home Affairs Committee: 8 files 1990-95 Information Committee: 1 file 1994-95 Members' Interests Committee: 7 boxes 1987-90 National Heritage Committee: 4 files 1993-96 Northern Ireland Affairs Committee: 1 file 1994-95 Procedure Committee: 17 boxes 1966-92 Public Accounts Committee: 4 files 1994-96 Science and Technology Committee: 1 file 1995-96 Scottish Affairs Committee: 8 boxes and 4 files 1983-96 Social Security Committee: 5 files 1993-95 Trade and Industry Committee: 4 boxes and 54 files 1971-96 Transport Committee: 1 file 1994-95
19 Treasury and Civil Service Committee: 4 files 1994-96 Welsh Affairs Committee: 3 files 1994-96
Journal Office: Minute Book pages 1990-94 (5 boxes) Indexes to votes 1937-49 (10 vols.) Election return books 1945-83 (12 vols.) Journal 1993-94 (1 vol.), 1994-95 (1 vol.)
Leader of the House: Records 1963-79 (39 boxes)*
Library: Unprinted Papers 1989-92 (168 boxes)
Parliamentary Works Directorate: Files, plans, reports and correspondence 1923-1988*
Public Bill Office: Lords' Bills not passed in the Commons 1993-94 (5 items) Guillotine motion files 1947-82 (2 boxes)
Private Bill Office: Bill papers 1988-93 and plans 1986-91
Ways and Means Office: Standing Orders Committee papers 1906-91 (4 files) Private Legislation Procedure (Scotland) papers 1922-66 (2 files) Joint and Select Committees on Statutory Instruments papers 1987-94 (36 files)
House of Lords Record Office Historical Collections
Papers 1640 relating to the Scottish Commissioners (5 items). Purchased (Hist. Coll. 397).
Circular letter from Lord Chancellor Heneage Finch to peers 10 December 1678. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 404).
Notebook 18th century relating to the Wilkes affair. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 394).
Accounts 1770 relating to stationery etc. supplied to the House of Commons. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 400).
Letter 9 May 1786 concerning parliamentary business and Speaker's dinner card 13 May 1874. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 399).
Le Marchant family papers 19th century, including correspondence and papers of Sir Francis Le
20 Marchant deposited by Sir Francis Le Marchant. (Hist. Coll. 398).
Election indenture 1802 between the Sheriff and the freeholders of Devon. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 405).
Printed circular letter 1814 including text of petition to the House of Commons from Catholics of Great Britain. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 403).
Letter from Sir Samuel Romilly M.P. 3 February 1816. Purchased (Hist. Coll. 401).
Typescript copies of letters from sons of the Speaker Sir Charles Manners Sutton October 1834. Deposited by the Speaker's Office (Hist. Coll. 407).
Copy of a letter from T. C. Hansard to J. Jarratt 21 February 1889. (Hist. Coll. 395).
Letters patent and grant of arms 20th century of Baron Goodman of Westminster. Placed on permanent loan by Miss C. Miller (Hist. Coll. 396).
Correspondence and papers 1982-94 of Baron Shackleton of Burley (23 files)*. Presented by Lady Shackleton (Hist. Coll. 125 additional).
Architectural Archive
Photographs of two late 16th century plans of the cloisters adjoining Westminster Hall (The Marquess of Salisbury).
38 Engravings from the Illustrated London News and other 19th century periodicals (Purchased).
Photographs of designs for Norman Shaw North and South Buildings (Royal Academy of Arts and RIBA Drawings Collection, 33 items).
Photogrammetric survey of interior and exterior of Palace of Westminster by Plowman Craven & Associates. 1974-95 (15 vols.).
21