The Churchill Archives Centre
Annual Report
July 2009 – June 2010
1: Introduction
It is only as I have sought to collate and to write this report that I have come to fully appreciate
what an incredible year it has been for the Churchill Archives Centre. We have been highly
active in almost all areas of our work:
• bringing in important new political archives and attracting additional accessions to a
whole range of existing collections, while also continuing with major cataloguing
projects on the papers of Lord Hailsham, Lord Kinnock and Professor Max Born;
• hosting a record number of researchers (up 12% on 2008/9), while making available
more files available than ever before (up 37% on 2008/9);
• supporting the College’s excellent fiftieth anniversary events programme, while also
staging the Cold War Conference, the 13th Stephen Roskill Memorial Lecture and
participating in events in South East Asia;
• opening the papers for the first months of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, for May –
Dec 1979, but also highlighting the seventieth anniversary of Churchill’s ‘finest hour’;
• launching an ambitious programme to digitise just under one million documents from
Lady Thatcher’s archive;
• and enjoying a high media profile, with press releases about the opening of the
Thatcher Papers, the digitisation of the Churchill Papers, and the 70th anniversary of
Churchill’s ‘Finest Hour’ speech.
This would not have been possible without the help and advice the Archives Centre receives
from its Trustees, Archives Committee, Patrons, Friends, depositors and donors, or without
the unfailing support of Churchill College officers, Fellows and staff. But above all else, this
report bears witness to the hard work and dedication of the team of the Churchill Archives
Centre.
Allen Packwood
10 September 2010
2: Financial Report
In the year 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010 the Archives Centre used its endowments, grants
and income to meet expenditure of £476,115.
The Archives Centre continued to receive support from its Patrons and Friends, receiving new
donation income during the year of £174,249.
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3: Accessions
New Collections
These range from a fanatical eugenicist, imprisoned during the Second World War for his
fascist sympathies (a collection that includes hitherto unpublished photographs of Nazi
Germany), via a woman who worked for Churchill, a man who made film documentaries about
Churchill, and Churchill’s namesake and grandson, to the British Ambassador in Washington
DC in the late 1970’s, and to two of Margaret Thatcher’s Cabinet Ministers.
•
CHURCHILL, Winston Spencer (1940-2010)
Author, Journalist, Parliamentarian. Honorary Fellow of Churchill College and
grandson of Sir Winston Churchill [92 boxes and 6 oversize items].
•
HOWELL OF GUILDFORD, Baron David Arthur Russell (b.1936)
Conservative MP and Minister, serving as Secretary of State for Energy, 1979–81,
and for Transport, 1981–83, and then as Chairman of the Select Committee on
Foreign Affairs, 1987–97 [circa 105 boxes].
•
JAY, Margaret Christian (Peggy) (1913-2008)
London City Councilor and political campaigner [77 boxes].
•
JAY, Peter (b.1937)
Former British Ambassador to the United States, author, broadcaster, economist and
journalist [155 boxes and 1 outsize volume].
•
LE VIEN, John Douglas (1918-1999)
Film maker, who made documentary films about Churchill and Edward VIII [4.5
boxes].
•
PITT-RIVERS, George Henry Lane Fox (1890-1966)
Anthropologist and Member of Council of the Eugenics Society, who was interned
during the Second World War for his links with the British Union of Fascists [49
boxes].
•
RAWLINSON OF EWELL, Peter Anthony Grayson, Baron (1919-2006)
Conservative MP who rose to be Solicitor-General, Opposition Spokesman for Law
and for Broadcasting, and then Attorney-General, 1970-74 [32 boxes].
•
SALMON, Vanda (b. c 1925)
Personal secretary to Sir Winston Churchill, Lady Astor and others [18 boxes].
•
WAKEHAM, John, Baron (b. 1932)
Conservative MP and minister who served as: Government Chief Whip, 1983-7; Lord
Privy Seal, 1987-8; Leader of the House of Commons, 1987-9; Lord President of the
Council, 1988-9; Secretary of State for Energy, 1989-92; and Lord Privy Seal and
Leader of the House of Lords, 1992-4 [66 boxes].
Collections to which additional accessions have been made
Material has been added to a wide range of our collections strengthening our holdings for
politics, grand strategy, diplomacy, public policy and science, engineering and technology.
Lord (Julian) Amery (AMEJ), Leo Amery (AMEL), Sir Herman Bondi (BOND), Professor Max
Born (BORN), Sir Robin Chichester-Clark (CCLK), Peregrine Churchill (PCHL), Robin Cook
(COOK), Peter Cropper (CPPR), Tam Dalyell (TADA), Admiral Lord Fisher (FISR), Sir James
Grigg (PJGG), Lord Jenkin (JENK), Lord Kilmuir (KLMR), Sir John Nott (NOTT), Professor
Max Perutz (PRTZ), Enoch Powell (POLL), Sir Adam Ridley (RDLY), Stephen Roskill
(ROSK), Sir Joseph Rotblat (RTBT), Professor Edward Shire (SHRE), Sir John Stuttard
(STUT), Lady Thatcher (THCR), Lord Thurso (THRS), Michael Young (YUNG).
There have also been additions to the Miscellaneous holdings (MISC), and to the Churchill
Additional (WCHL) and Thatcher and Whittle Associated collections (THCR AS & WHTL AS).
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4: Readers
Total No. of Readers
Readers by nationality: UK
USA & Canada
Europe
Other
Joint nationality
Not stated
Total No. of Daily Visits
Document requests
% of first-time visitors
No of readers using
Churchill Papers
2008/9
476
296 (62%)
91 (19%)
43 (9%)
31 (7%)
15 (3%)
1344
6341
(1405 for Churchill)
(328) 69%
139 (29%)
Most Used Collections in 2009/10
Collections by number of readers using collection
1: CHAR (pre 1945 Churchill)
113
2: THCR (Margaret Thatcher)
64
3: CHUR (post 1945 Churchill)
3:= AMEL (Leo Amery)
4: POLL (Enoch Powell)
5: ESHR (Lord Esher)
5: = HLSM (Lord Hailsham)
6: DNSD (Duncan Sandys)
7: CSCT (Clementine
Spencer-Churchill)
7: = STED (W T Stead)
46
46
26
20
20
16
15
7: = HNKY (Lord Hankey)
7: = VNST (Vansittart)
8: ACAD (Alexander
Cadogan)
8: = BEVN (Ernest Bevin)
8: = NBKR (Philip Noel-Baker)
9: FISR (Admiral Lord Fisher)
9:= MCKN (Reginald
McKenna)
10: CASR (Cecil Spring Rice)
10:= CHAN (Lord Chandos)
10: = SPRS (Louis Spears)
15
15
14
15
2009/10
536
354 (66.0%)
63 (11.8%)
55 (10.3%)
46 (8.6%)
4 (0.7%)
14 (2.6%)
1602
8697
(1094 for Churchill)
72% (384)
128 (24%)
Collections by number of files issued
1: CHAR (pre 1945
Churchill)
2: THCR (Margaret
Thatcher)
3: RTBT (Joseph Rotblat)
4: RVJO (RV Jones)
5: AMEL (Leo Amery)
6: VNST (Vansittart)
7: POLL (Enoch Powell)
8: ESHR (Lord Esher)
9: CHUR (post 1945
Churchill)
10: ACAD (Alexander
Cadogan)
875
708
457
380
319
280
273
246
219
186
14
14
13
13
12
12
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4.1 Reader Statistics
I believe these statistics record the highest level of researcher use in the Centre’s history.
Moreover, they do not take account of the many enquiries that are now being answered by
letter, fax, phone and increasingly by email.
The figures for use of individual collections show more people using Lady Thatcher’s papers,
as her archive starts to open, but also confirm that a wide range of collections are being
heavily used, including some, like the Amery, Powell and Hailsham papers, that have been
catalogued and made available in recent years.
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5: Archives By-Fellows
The following Archives By-Fellows took up residence in College 2009/10:
•
Michaelmas Term 2009 – Dr Andrew Gordon (Reader in Defence Studies at Joint
Services Command and Staff College, Shrivenham, Swindon), who was working on
the biography of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay for Harvard University Press.
•
Lent Term 2010 – Dr Gaynor Johnson (Senior Lecturer in International History at the
University of Salford), who was working on a biographical monograph about Sir
Alexander Cadogan and has now decided to use Cadogan’s two periods as
Permanent Under Secretary and that of Vansittart as the 'root' for a study of the
'Foreign Office mind' in the period 1930-1946.
•
Lent Term 2010 – Dr Graham Farmelo (Senior Research Fellow at the Science
Museum, London, and Adjunct Professor of Physics at Northeastern University,
Boston, USA) who continued his studies from Lent Term 2009 for an inter-disciplinary
project “Churchill’s nuclear scientists”.
•
Easter Term 2010: Dr Andrew Brown (a retired Radiologist and experienced
biographer) who had been asked by British Pugwash to write an official biography of
Sir Joseph Rotblat.
Dr Johnson was the recipient of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust grant for an Archives
By-Fellowship, and in addition Dr Farmelo benefited from a second grant. The Trust has
generously offered funding for one Archives By-Fellow per academic year, contributing
towards their accommodation, research and living expenses while at Churchill College for a
term of study. Fuller details are available on the Archives Centre website at
http://www.chu.cam.ac.uk/archives/about/byfellowship.php.
6: Publications and Media Usage
The following is a selection of new works added to the Roskill Library in 2009/10, chosen
because they derive directly and significantly from research undertaken in the Churchill
Archives Centre:
• Beyond the Battlefield: New Zealand and its allies, 1939-45, Gerald Hensley.
• Winston S Churchill, Randolph Churchill, Martin Gilbert (5 vols ), new edition by
Hillsdale Press.
• The Churchill Documents, Randolph Churchill, Martin Gilbert (13 vols), new edition by
Hillsdale Press.
• The Churchills: a family portrait, Celia and John Lee.
• Churchill’s Empire: the world that made him and the world he made, Richard Toye.
• Churchill’s War Lab: code-breakers, boffins and innovators: the mavericks Churchill
led to victory, Taylor Downing.
• A Distorted Mirror: the transformation of a Milk Snatcher to an Iron Lady, 1971-79,
Michèle Blagg
• Finest Years: Churchill as warlord, 1940-45, Max Hastings.
• The Great Edwardian Naval Feud: Beresford’s vendetta against ‘Jackie’ Fisher,
Richard Freeman.
• Stepping Stones and the Origins of Thatcherism, 1974-79, James Varela.
• A Study of the Impact of the Economic Crises 1974-9 on the Conservative Party,
Martyn Griffiths.
• The Taxation of British Savings and Investments, 1945-85: from prudence to popular
capitalism, Clare Munro.
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The first section of Baroness Thatcher’s premiership papers covering May-December 1979
were opened on 1 February 2010. Ahead of the release, the Centre hosted a press day for
the world’s media which was well attended. The release ultimately attracted considerable
media attention and was covered by both BBC and independent news channels, by the
prestigious “Today programme” on BBC Radio Four and by most British and a number of
overseas newspapers. The Centre plans to hold further annual press days as papers are
released here for the remaining years of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, 1980-90.
The Centre also assisted a number of media and museum projects including:
•
“The ONE Show”, BBC1, filmed Francis Bacon’s fuel cell notebooks, in July 2009.
•
Photographs of Churchill supplied for documentary series “Joanna Lumley’s Nile” by
Tiger Aspect Productions, broadcast on ITV, April 2010.
•
Scans of letters from Otto Hahn to Lise Meitner supplied to Lawrence Bender
Productions for use in a documentary film.
•
Photos supplied to John S Latsis Public Benefit Foundation for use in a short
biographical film on J S Latsis.
•
Photograph of Thomson and Rutherford from the Meitner Papers supplied for a
documentary film about Rutherford.
•
Photos of Admiral Sturdee’s funeral from the Sturdee Papers supplied to St Paul’s
Church, Camberley, for use in Heritage Open Day display.
•
"Winston Churchill, Oxfordshire Hussar, 1901-1965"; an exhibition by the Soldiers of
Oxfordshire Trust. Facsimiles supplied and loan of Churchill despatch box.
•
Facsimiles also supplied to the Imperial War Museum to support the exhibition
“Outbreak 1939” (20 August 2009 – 5 September 2010), and the Deep Zoom project
on Churchill, at the Churchill Museum and online, launched summer 2010.
•
Facsimile from the Churchill Papers supplied to the Library & Museum of
Freemasonry for exhibition “The Masonic Emporium”, 1 July to 23 December 2010.
7: Catalogues and Finding aids
7.1. Major Cataloguing Projects
The Centre is currently running two major cataloguing projects, for the papers of Lord
Hailsham and Lord Kinnock, and this year has seen excellent progress in both.
7.1.1. The Papers of the Rt. Hon. Lord Hailsham
A further 28 boxes of Lord Hailsham’s Private Office papers from his various Ministerial
appointments were released this year and approximately 150 boxes of speeches and
remaining political papers are being catalogued prior to opening to researchers.
7.1.2. The Papers of the Rt. Hon. Lord Kinnock
Detailed cataloguing has now been completed for 18 out of the 26 series (about 550 boxes in
all), including the core Labour Party material, the Elections section, the 12 separate policy
sections (divided by ministerial portfolio) and Kinnock’s speeches. There are usable working
lists to the remaining 9 sections, which are available on request, and these include
photographs, audio-visual and also Kinnock’s correspondence.
The catalogues to these collections are already available online, and are being added to as
work continues.
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7.1.3. The Papers of Professor Max Born
The papers of Max Born (c 80 boxes) have been appraised, sorted, and packaged, and a
more detailed catalogue is now being produced.
7.2. Other cataloguing work
The Archivists have also undertaken the following range of other cataloguing tasks.
• 3 boxes added to the Fisher Papers, consisting of letters from Fisher to George
Lambert, many around the time of the Dardanelles Inquiry, and other papers collected
by Lambert as Fisher’s literary executor. Work is also continuing to improve the
catalogue to the Fisher Papers.
• 4 photograph albums added to the papers of Peregrine Churchill (a collection which
was also opened this year).
• 9 boxes of family correspondence and business papers, added to the Thurso Papers.
The catalogue to the Thurso Papers has also been retroconverted and added to the
Janus database.
• 4.5 boxes of papers and photographs belonging to Jack Le Vien, film producer who
made several films based on Churchill’s memoirs.
• 5 scrapbooks added to the papers of A V Hill, including family papers and
photographs relating to Hill (including the award of his Nobel Prize), Margaret Hill,
John Maynard Keynes and Florence Ada Keynes
• 3 boxes added to the Shire papers, consisting chiefly of research and lecture notes.
• 32 boxes of Jack Ratcliffe’s papers were catalogued, including material relating to the
wartime Telecommunications Research Establishment and his work as head of the
radio group at the Cavendish Laboratory (with papers about the Principles of Science
course introduced for Arts undergraduates at Cambridge during the 1950s).
• 155 boxes of Peter Jay’s papers were boxed and 51 of those were boxlisted.
• 92 boxes of Winston S. Churchill’s papers were boxlisted.
• 77 boxes of Peggy Jay’s papers were boxed.
• 97 boxes of additional papers of Michael Young were boxed.
• 117 boxes of the papers of Sir Martin Ryle were catalogued by the National
Cataloguing Unit for the Archives of Contemporary Scientists and have now been
returned to the Archives Centre where they are available for consultation.
The Archives Assistants have continued to work on retro-converting our type-written
catalogues, by entering catalogue information onto our database so that the catalogues can
be published online in full. This year, they have completed this process for catalogues of
Professor Paul Dirac, Admiral Sir Reginald Drax, Sir George Binney, Admiral Sir John de
Robeck and Admiral Sir Dudley Pound. Work is continuing on the catalogues of Sir Cecil
Spring Rice, Alfred Duff Cooper and Robert Ellis.
In January the Archivists opened 76 boxes of papers of Lord (Edwin) Plowden following an
official review, plus 92 files of material from a wide range of collections.
On 1 February 2010 some 41 boxes of papers from the archive of Baroness Thatcher were
opened, see 8.5 below.
8. Online resources
8.1. Archives website
As a new feature, we have introduced an Image of the Month, which is displayed on the
Archives website homepage. Visitors to the website can find out more about the image and
also access a gallery of all the previous images. So far we have used documents and
photographs from a number of our collections, including the Churchill Papers, Thatcher
Papers and college archives, and also featuring the work of our conservators.
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The main website (not counting the Churchill Era or the Churchill Papers catalogue) received
439,777 hits over the year, an increase of 6.5% from the previous year’s figure of 412,669.
This year, usage has gone up for the collections section, but dropped slightly for the
education section, with about 55% of hits for collections and 35% for education (as opposed
to 50% and 42% last year). Overall, as in previous years, a roughly equal number of users
(about 25-30%) come from commercial .com addresses and network .net addresses, and little
under 20% from .uk addresses, over half of which come from the Cambridge academic
community (.cam.ac.uk addresses).
8.2. The Churchill Era
This year the site received 74,649 hits, a decrease of 7% from last year’s figure of 80,191 hits
(not surprising, as no new material has been added to the site for some time). As before,
about 30% of hits came from .com addresses, 25% from .net addresses and about 10%
.ac.uk addresses (of which over half were from Cambridge users, with .cam.ac.uk addresses).
8.3. Online Churchill Papers catalogue
This year the Churchill catalogue received 1,005,576 hits showing a tenfold increase on last
year’s figure of 101,525 hits. Many users arrive from the college site or as a result of Google
searches. The usage since the catalogue has gone online shows 65% from .com addresses,
11.8% from the UK (7.61% from the UK academic community, mostly within Cambridge).
8.4 Janus webserver
Most of the Archives Centre’s catalogues are available online on the Janus webserver
(http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk) and the usage statistics show that many of the visitors to the
Janus site use the Archives Centre’s catalogues. Janus now collects statistics using Google
Analytics as well as in the format (generated by a program called Analog) used for previous
annual reports.
Google Analytics does allow more sophisticated analysis of the use of the site but it is
impossible to separate use of the Churchill Archives Centre catalogues from other catalogues
available. The figures generated by Analog appear to show a small increase in the number of
hits on our catalogues for the year: 655,467(compared with 602,002 for last year). It is difficult
to be confident in the increase as Google Analytics appears to contradict this by showing a
19% decrease in use of Churchill catalogues (compared with a 36% decrease in use of the
site overall). One of the reasons that Janus is less busy is because fewer visitors come to the
site as a result of a Google search. However, those that do come to the site remain on it for
longer and look at more pages. So it may be that the decline in quantity of visits is balanced
by the improved relevance to those who do visit the site.
Many of our larger and more detailed catalogues (such as the Leo Amery and Enoch Powell
catalogues) regularly receive over 1,000 hits per month. However, there are also some new
arrivals in the list of the most popular catalogues: the Thatcher papers (where the figures
show a spike in usage in January and February corresponding to the release of material), AV
Hill’s papers, and Major-General Sir Edward Spears’ papers. 44% of the usage of the Janus
site is from the UK (18% from the US, 4.4% from Canada and 4.2% from Australia).
8.5. Margaret Thatcher Foundation website and Thatcher Papers Digitisation Project
In the Autumn of 2009, the Centre commenced a trial project to digitise the Prime Ministerial
papers of Baroness Thatcher for 1979. After approaching a number of commercial digitisation
companies, the Centre selected Transmedia, a Swansea based company, who had agreed to
fund a trial to digitise 41 boxes of papers, representing just over 23,000 images.
Following their successful trial, Transmedia were awarded a contract to digitise up to a million
images from the Thatcher papers up to the end of 1990. The main contract began in February
2010 and at the end of June some 150,000 images had been satisfactorily checked and
returned. In each case, the Centre had been provided with high quality “tiff” images and lower
resolution but text searchable “PDF” files. The contract is being funded from the Centre’s
specific grants and endowments with considerable financial help from the Margaret Thatcher
Archive Trust.
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9: Temporary Collections
The Churchill Archives Centre continues to house the archive of the Royal Automobile Club.
Since the cataloguing project finished in March 2006 administration of the collection has
passed to the staff in the club’s library at Pall Mall with the Archives Centre staff in support.
With prior arrangement with the club researchers can see the archives in the reading rooms
at the Archives Centre under the usual conditions. The on-line catalogue to the collection is
available through the website of the Royal Automobile Club. In June 2010, RAC Archivist,
Jessica Bueno de Mesquita began working two days a week on the collection in the Archives
Centre.
During 2009/10 the Churchill Archives Centre was honoured to act as temporary custodian of
the world famous Parker manuscripts collection during building work to the Parker Library at
Corpus Christi College.
10: Conservation
This year saw further work on the Hailsham Papers (HLSM) and particularly the diaries
(HLSM 1). ‘Fisherizing’ (conservation binding) was carried out on HLSM 1/1/14, HLSM 1/5A
and is almost complete for HLSM 1/1/15, while deacidification work and paper repairs are
nearing completion for several files of family papers and correspondence (HLSM 8).
Paper conservation including removal of pressure sensitive adhesive tapes, humidification,
deacidification and remoistenable tissue support has been carried on items from the papers of
Leo Amery (AMEL), AV Alexander (AVAR), Lord Norwich (DUFC), Lord Esher (ESHR), Sir
Thomas Fife Clark (FICA), Michael Young (YUNG), Jack Le Vien (LEVN) and from the
Churchill Additional collection (WCHL). Items from the Thatcher Papers (THCR) have also
been conserved as preparation work for digitisation.
Conservation work on photographs and photograph albums in the papers of Oswald Tuck
(TUCK) and Sir Alan Lascelles (LASL) has also been carried out, including cleaning,
flattening by humidification, repair of mounts/pages with toned tissue/infills, removal from
mounts, packaging with museum board, silversafe, microchamber and melinex
Many boxes have been custom-made this year for volumes, including phase boxes and clothcovered drop spine boxes. Volumes in the papers of Sir Alan Lascelles (LASL), Oswald Tuck
(TUCK), Vanda Salmon (SALM), Churchill Additional (WCHL), and Stephen Roskill (ROSK)
have been boxed, with other repair work also being applied to some of these. Padded
artefact boxes have been produced for items in the papers of Max Born (BORN) and Lise
Meitner (MTNR), and for the protection of parchment/seals in the papers of Lord Kilmuir
(KLMR).
Measures have had to be put in place to allow safe access to material in Chadwick (CHAD)
and Feather (FEAT), found to have low levels of residual radioactive contamination arising
from the research processes that they document. The worst affected material has been
encapsulated in melinex and isolated, but the use of gloves and particular handling is all that
is usually required.
Large format items in MISC 40, MISC 90, Sir Martin Ryle (RYLE), AV Alexander (AVAR) and
Bagnold (BGND) have been protected with archival folders, tubes and wrapping as well as
other minimal conservation treatments.
The project to improve the storage and copying of our audio visual (AV) archives continues.
The digital copying of the Thatcher audio cassette tapes is well underway. The first phase of
the film project is complete with all films having been re-rolled and archivally packaged and
fully assessed. A survey of chemical deterioration was carried out and this, along with other
information, formed the basis for prioritising films for copying. A full survey of the analogue
discs (records) within our collections was carried out, the items prioritised and equipment
acquired to enable the Audiovisual Technicians to digitise this material in-house. The copying
will start in August 2010.
8
The preservation packaging of Lord Norwich (DUFC) has been completed this year and the
packaging of Stephen Roskill (ROSK) and Admiral Lord Fisher (FISR) has commenced.
Packaging of section CHUR 2 of the Churchill Papers continues. Packaging, involving some
custom-made enclosures and other work, has been carried out on new collections, in
particular Willmott (WLMT), Rawlinson (RWSN), Rankin (BARA), Born (BORN) and PittRivers (PIRI). Future work on PIRI glass plate and film negatives and lantern slides has been
logged.
As a result of so much new material being accessioned this year, there has been a higher
proportion of time spent dealing with the immediate problem of damp, insect and mould
affected material. This has involved drying and cleaning work in the conservation workshop
on Kilmuir (KLMR), Pitt-Rivers (PIRI), Winston Churchill (WSCH) and Robin Cook (COOK).
The conservation team continue to occasionally advise and work for other related bodies
including this year, the Westminster School, The Other Club and the Royal Automobile Club.
The Archives Centre has a commercial arrangement in place with the RAC, and considerable
time has been spent undertaking full conservation work on the RAC Woodcote Park land
deeds, including the washing, sizing and lining of a paper map and the mounting and
packaging of parchment and seals. In addition, a report has been written on
recommendations for the conservation/preservation of the scarp book albums of Sir Stirling
Moss.
Two people undertaking conservation courses at the Camberwell College of Arts have gained
work experience over several days in the Conservation workshop, undertaking paper repairs
and box-making.
Preparation of originals from the Burgis (BRGS), Churchill (CHAR) and Churchill Additional
Papers (WCHL) for exhibition at the Churchill War Rooms and the Oxfordshire Museum has
been carried out.
The Archives Centre is working towards becoming part of a University-wide Disaster
Response Network, being coordinated by the Fitzwilliam museum.
We continue to monitor for safe levels of light, temperature and humidity in the stores, while
also watching for signs of insect activity. Overall, conditions have been good. For the majority
of the time the Strongroom and the New Wing have maintained conditions within the safe
range identified in the relevant national standard, BS 5454 (16-19 deg C and 45-60% RH).
11: Visits to the Archives Centre
01 July 09 – Judge Business School General Management Programme/Møller Centre
04 July – Display for Churchill College Alumni
09 July – Local Graduate Trainee Librarians
15 July – Sutton Trust Summer School Sixth Formers
16 July – Joseph Cooper group
17 July – Steve & Tracey Knowles (Hamblin family)
20 July – Katie & Teddy Bommarito
22 July – Councillor Russ McPherson, Mayor of Cambridge
22 July – Saffron Walden Town Library Society
23 July – Beijing Cultural Group/Møller Centre
23 July – Sir John Stuttard, Mr & Mrs George Mallinckrodt
30 July – Cambridge Rutherford Rotary Club
11 Aug – China Bohai Bank/Møller Centre
18 Aug– Excellence East Summer School students
19 Aug – Excellence East Summer School students
20 Aug – Shanghai Pudong Development Bank/Møller Centre
25 Aug – Conservative Party Selection Conference interviewers/Møller Centre
09 Sept – Carmel McEniery & colleagues
09 Sept – Simon Burne
10 Sept – Annual Conference of CILIP’s Rare Books & Special Collections group
12 Sept – Display for Open Cambridge Weekend Libraries Trail & Heritage Open Days
16 Sept – Elderhostel ‘The Spying Game’ Conference group
16 Sept – Professor Tai Yong Tan
22 Sept – Display for College Admissions Open Day
9
23 Sept– OCR Teachers Training Day
23 Sept - Ben Harris & Spanish FAES group
24 Sept – Lady Ridley & Professor Jane Ridley
25 Sept – University Alumni weekend
08 Oct - Anne Jarvis (University Librarian)
st
09 Oct – Dr Mark Goldie with 1 year History students
12 Oct – Sir Evelyn de Rothschild
14 Oct – Legal Group/Møller Centre
19 Oct – Hilary Cowan
20 Oct – Bill Janeway
21 Oct – Mrs Kent Garbee
23 Oct – Lord & Lady Balfour
27 Oct – China Bohai Bank/Møller Centre
28 Oct – Entrants to Stevens Competition
30 Oct – Bank of China Hong Kong /Møller Centre
03 Nov – Entrants to Stevens Competition
04 Nov – Chairman of a Chinese Bank
04 Nov – Delegates from Finnish Institute Conference, including His Excellency The Finnish
Ambassador
06 Nov - Heather McIntyre of the Dartington Hall Trust
11 Nov – Dr Henry Kissinger
17 Nov – Dr Anthony Wild group
17 Nov – Display for College’s 50th Governing Body meeting
19 Nov – Display for Cold War Conference
23 Nov – Kings College, London with Professor Richard Vinen and Mr Chris Collins
25 Nov – Sir Ralph Kohn
26 Nov – Entrants to Stevens Competition
01 Dec – Judge Business School General Management Programme/Møller Centre
02 Dec – Imam Ahmed El Mahdi
03 Dec – Dr Phil Gaskell & U3A group
15 Dec – Entrants to Stevens Competition
14 Jan – Lord Lawson of Blaby
18 Jan – Celia and John Lee and Sunday Times journalist
18 Jan – Academy for Chief Executives/Møller Centre
19 Jan – Mark Pigott
20 Jan – Entrants to Stevens Competition
22 Jan – Entrants to Stevens Competition
01 Feb – Display following Roskill Lecture
02 Feb – Dr D’Maris Coffman
04 Feb – Celia Pilkington from Inner Temple Archive
09 Feb – RAC Motoring Committee
16 Feb – Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
01 Mar – Churchill College Pensioners
05 Mar – Professor Gustav Born & family
05 Mar – Churchill College Student Quiz
nd
08 Mar - Dr Mark Goldie with 2 year History undergraduates
10 Mar – Tracey Wilkinson from Kings College
11 Mar – Display for Science Festival lecture by Professor Dudley Williams
15 Mar – Brian Wallis with U3A group
15 Mar – Faculty of Divinity journalists & broadcasters group/Møller Centre
16 Mar – Trainee Librarians
24 Mar – Shanghai Pudong Development Bank/Møller Centre
25 Mar – Mr Max Arthur
26 Mar - Mr Andrew Wylie
26 Mar – Bruce & Beth Hajek family
30 Mar – Display for College Admissions Open Day
20 Apr – Irene Noel-Baker
21 Apr – Alison Barnard from Norfolk Record Office
06 May – Small group from Bank of China/Møller Centre
08 May – Churchill Centre UK
12 May – CCBH students
12 May – Mrs Barbara Rankin
18 May – Mr Beverley Coleman
19 May – Leamington Society
21 May – Sir Peter & Lady Bonfield
25 May – Bank of China Macau/Møller Centre
28 May – Judge Business School Sustainability & Art Design group/Møller Centre
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01 June – National WW2 Museum US
03 June – Dr Declan Kiely
07 June – Professor Sinai (Newton Institute guest)
10 June – Edwina Sandys & Richard Kaplan
14 June – Miss Nina Veitch with Professors Ayliffe, Kerr & Mainelli
15 June – Judge Business School McLaren Leadership Course/Møller Centre
26 June – NIH Scientific Philanthropists
26 June – Display for Churchill College General Admission
28 June – Frank Warn from Blenheim Palace
29 June – Mrs Delphine Daft
12: Education and Outreach
This year the Archives Centre was delighted to be able to support the College’s fiftieth
anniversary programme. The initiative of the Development Director led to the publication of
Cosmos out of Chaos; a wonderful full colour introduction to the riches of the collections,
funded by alumnus Michael Cowan. We also helped celebrate the anniversary of the first
governing Body meeting on the opening night of our Cold War conference, provided a display
for the Danish Embassy reception on 24 March, and organised a conference with the National
University of Singapore and a talk at Hong Kong University to complement the Master’s visit
to South East Asia in April.
The year saw annual events like the Archives Centre Quiz, and biennial occasions like the
Roskill Lecture (delivered this year by Ken Livingstone), taking place along side the rather
special one-off two day conference on The Cold War and its Legacy, held in November to
coincide with the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. This drew high profile speakers
from the United Kingdom, Russia and the United States, as well as China, Germany, India,
Japan and Roumania.
The College and the Cold War were not the only anniversaries being celebrated. The summer
of 2010 was also the seventieth since Churchill’s arrival as Prime Minister in 10 Downing
Street and the ensuing Battle of Britain. This was marked by a Cambridge University podcast
and associated press release on the making of Churchill’s ‘Finest Hour’ speech (18 June
1940) and by the Director talking to University alumni at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford.
13: British Diplomatic Oral History Programme
Interviews which have taken place from June 2009 and are still being processed are as
follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sir Anthony Brenton KCMG (Ambassador to Russia, 2004-08)
Alan Brooke Turner CMG (Ambassador to Finland, 1983–85)
Sir Nicholas Fenn GCMG (High Commissioner to India, 1991-96)
Sir David Manning GCMG (Foreign Policy Adviser to Prime Minister, and Head of
Defence and Overseas Secretariat, Cabinet Office, 2001–03) (2nd interview)
Warwick Morris (Ambassador to South Korea, 2003-08)
John Sankey CMG (UK Permanent Rep. to the UN, 1985-90)
Interviews which have been completed and received FCO approval in July 2009-June 2010:
• Charles Cullimore CMG (High Commissioner to Uganda, 1989–93)
• John Edmonds CMG, CVO (Leader, UK Delegation to Comprehensive Test Ban
Treaty Negotiations, 1978–81)
• Desmond Higgins (Commonwealth Relations Office)
• Lord Jay GCMG (Permanent Under-Secretary of State, FCO, and Head of the
Diplomatic Service, 2002–06)
• Peter Longworth CMG (High Commissioner, Zimbabwe, 1998–2001)
• Colin Munro CMG (Ambassador to Croatia, 1997-2000)
• Adrian Sindall CMG (Ambassador to Syria, 1994–96)
Interviewers for the programme are Mr Jimmie Jamieson and Mr Malcolm McBain (Director).
Transcription work is carried out by Mrs Joanna Buckley and Mrs Evie Jamieson.
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14: Staff
The staffing of the Archives Centre during 2009/2010 was as follows:
Mr Allen Packwood (Director)
Ms Natalie Adams (Senior Archivist/ Information Services Manager & College Archivist –
part-time)
Mr Andrew Riley (Senior Archivist/ Public Services Manager)
Ms Sarah Lewery (Conservator)
Ms Sophie Bridges (Archivist)
Miss Katharine Thomson (Archivist)
Mrs Julie Sanderson (Archives Administrator – part-time)
Mrs Caroline Herbert (Archives Assistant)
Dr Lynsey Robertson (Archives Assistant)
Ms Madelin Terrazas (Archives Assistant – full-time from 2 November 09)
Ms Bridget Warrington (Conservation Assistant – part-time)
15: Training and Staff Development
The following training courses were attended by various members of the Archives Centre
staff:
• Postgraduate Diploma in Archives & Records Management distance-learning course
– Lynsey Robertson continued her studies throughout 2009/10
• College training on ‘Working at Heights’ – Lynsey Robertson & Bridget Warrington
(July 09)
• College training on ‘Manual Handling’ – Caroline Herbert, Allen Packwood &
Julie Sanderson (July 09)
• In-house review of Handling Procedures – all staff (Nov 09)
• College training on ‘Fire Safety’ - Caroline Herbert & Madelin Terrazas (Nov 09)
• Libraries @ Cambridge Conference – Natalie Adams & Katharine Thomson (Jan 10)
• ‘Project Management for Archivists’ training @ MLA – Natalie Adams (Jan 10)
• University workshop on ‘Information Management’ – Caroline Herbert (Jan 10)
• Archives Skills Consultancy Ltd ‘Basic Archives Skills’ training – Madelin Terrazas
(Feb 10)
• SCA Intellectual Property Rights & Licensing Workshop @ JISC Offices –
Allen Packwood (Mar 10)
• College training on ‘Risk Assessments’ – Allen Packwood (Mar 10)
• In-house review of Fire Procedures – all staff (Mar 10)
• Society of Archivists ‘Copyright for Archivists’ training – Madelin Terrazas (Mar 10)
• College ‘Dignity at Work’ training – Caroline Herbert & Andrew Riley (Apr 10), Natalie
Adams, Allen Packwood, Madelin Terrazas & Bridget Warrington (June 10)
• Exhibition Conservation work placement at Fitzwilliam Museum – Bridget Warrington
(17-21 May 10)
• College Induction Training – Madelin Terrazas (June 10)
• Training on ‘Setting up Exhibitions’ for Midlands group of Conservators at Nottingham
University – Bridget Warrington (June 10)
• Fire Safety talk at Fitzwilliam Museum – Sarah Lewery (June 10)
Mandatory staff training is arranged by the College, and members of staff are required to
attend the following courses on a three-year cyclic basis: ‘Manual Handling’, ‘Fire Safety’,
‘Basic Health & Safety’, ‘Dignity at Work’ and ‘Working at Heights’.
Sarah Lewery is currently the Secretary of the Society of Archivists Conservation Training
Scheme. She sits on the Committee that organises the day-to-day running of the scheme
and is involved in the organisation of meetings, the Chemistry Week, Instructors’
assessments, Trainee exams and assessments. On a local level, Natalie Adams has
continued to represent the Centre on the Janus steering group and the Cantab development
group. Both are technology initiatives which directly feed into the Centre's cataloguing work,
and which enable the Centre to benefit considerably from collaborating with other repositories
and to share the development costs involved.
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This year we have welcomed the following volunteers to the Archives Centre: Emma Mustich
(History undergraduate at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge), July 2009-June 2010; Nanci
Dhell (A Level student at the Grey Coat Hospital School, Westminster), 6 July 2009; Madelin
Terrazas (History graduate from the University of Chester), 6 July-7 September 2009 [later
employed as an Archives Assistant]; Frances Mortlock (teacher), 10-31 July 2009; Averil
Condren (archivist), 4 August-7 September 2009; Bradley Hart (History postgraduate at
Churchill College, Cambridge), 30 November-4 December 2009; Katie Borley (Classics
undergraduate at Pembroke College, Cambridge), 14-18 December 2009; Richard Calver
(Senior Lecturer in Optometry at Anglia Ruskin University), 15-16 December; Carol Peacok
(Camberwell College of Arts Conservation Diploma and Churchill graduate), 4-8 January
2010; Anna Coyle (History undergraduate at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge), 27
January-10 March 2010; Luke Kirwan (Archives and Records Management postgraduate at
University College Dublin), 15-16 and 18 February 2010 and 7-8 April 2010; Nicola Kiddle
(Camberwell College of Arts Conservation MA), 8-12 March 2010; and Genna MorganMcDermott (GCSE student at St Mary’s School, Cambridge) 28 June-2 July 2010.
16: Archives Committee
The main Archives committee continues to meet termly and includes both student
representation and external advisers. The composition throughout 2009/10 was as follows:
Dr Frank King (Chair)
Mr Allen Packwood (ex-officio as Director of the Churchill Archives Centre)
Professor Christopher Andrew (Corpus Christi)
Mr Matthew Beale (JCR representative)
Sir John Boyd
Professor David Edgerton (Imperial College, London)
Dr Phil Gaskell
Dr Mark Goldie
Mr Bradley Hart (MCR representative)
Professor Melissa Hines
Professor Anthony Kelly
Dr Sean Lang (consultant on Churchill Era website)
Professor Simon Laughlin
Mr Malcolm McBain (Director, British Diplomatic Oral History Programme)
Professor David Reynolds FBA (Christ’s)
Mr Iain Sproat (former Government Minister & MP)
Dr Pieter van Houten
17: Archives Trusts
The Churchill Papers remain the property of the Sir Winston Churchill Archive Trust
(SWCAT). The trustees for the period in question were comprised as follows:
Mr James Joll (Chair)
Mrs Anne Jarvis (ex-officio as the University Librarian)
Dr Scot McKendrick (ex-officio as representative of the British Library)
Professor Alison Richard (ex-officio as the Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University)
Mrs Jennifer Rigby (ex-officio as the Bursar of Churchill College)
Professor Sir David Wallace (ex-officio as the Master of Churchill College)
Mr Mark Whitmore (ex-officio as representative of the Imperial War Museum)
The Thatcher Papers remain the property of the Margaret Thatcher Archive Trust (MTAT).
The trustees for the period in question were comprised as follows:
Mr Julian Seymour (Chair)
The Rt Hon. Lord Gowrie
Lord Powell
Professor Alison Richard (ex-officio as Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge University)
Mrs Jennifer Rigby (ex-officio as Bursar of Churchill College)
Mr Andrew Roberts
Professor Sir David Wallace (ex-officio as Master of Churchill College)
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The Churchill College Archive Trust owns no collections, but controls an endowment fund and
makes an annual grant to the Churchill Archives Centre. The Trustees for 2009/10 are
recorded below. It is with regret and sadness that we record the death of Mr Winston Spencer
Churchill.
Professor Sir David Wallace (Chair, ex-officio as Master of Churchill College)
Mr Winston Spencer Churchill (until March 2010)
Mrs Jennifer Rigby (ex-officio as Bursar of Churchill College)
Mr Allen Packwood served as secretary to all trusts in his capacity as Director of the Archives
Centre.
18: Archives Patrons
Douglas N. Daft and Scott B. Kapnick remained the Honorary Chairmen of the Archives
Centre Patrons. A full list of Patrons can be obtained from the Director of the Churchill
Archives Centre.
Allen Packwood
September 2010
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