Modern Political Papers in the Bodleian Library

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Modern Political Papers in the Bodleian Library

• The private papers of British politicians, public
  servants, journalists and others public life,
  1840 to the present day.

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The extent of the holdings

• The Bodleian holds one of the UKs largest
  concentrations of modern political papers dating
  from 1840 to the present day including the
  private papers of six Prime Ministers
• Benjamin Disraeli, Earl of Beaconsfield
  (1804-1881)
• H. H, Asquith, Earl of Oxford Asquith
  (1852-1928)
• Clement Attlee, Earl Attlee (1883-1967)
• Harold Macmillan, Earl of Stockton (1894-1986)
• Harold Wilson, Lord Wilson of Rievaulx
  (1916-1995) and
• James Callaghan, Lord Callaghan (1915-2005)

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Cabinet colleagues and other ministers

• The papers of over a hundred ministers including
  
• The Earl of Clarendon (1800-1870)
• Sir William Harcourt (1827-1904), and his son
  Lewis ( later Viscount ) Harcourt (1863-1922)
• Sir John ( later Viscount) Simon (1873-1954)
• H A L Fisher ( 1865-1940)
• Walter ( later Viscount) Monckton (1891-1965)
• Frederick Marquis ( later 1st Earl of Woolton)
  (1883-1964)
• Anthony ( later Lord) Greenwood (1911-82)
• Sir Geoffrey ( later Lord) Howe ( b. 1926 )

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Public servants

• Mainly diplomats including
• Archibald Clark Kerr ( later Lord Inverchapel)
  (1882-1951)
• Paul (later Lord) Gore-Booth (1909-1984)
• Sir Denis Wright ( 1911-2005)
• Sir Patrick Reilly (1914-1999)
• Sir Roger Makins ( later Lord Sherfield)
  (1904-1996)
• But also the papers of retired UN civil servants
  including George Ivan Smith (1919-1995) and
  members of BAFUNCS
• Online catalogue
• current cataloguing project

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Journalists and broadcasters

• Over twenty collections including
• Sir Charles de Michele
• (1809-1898)
• Evelyn Sharp Nevinson (1856-1955)
• Henry Woodd Nevinson (1856-1941)
• Geoffrey Dawson (1874-1944)
• Arthur Mann (1876-1972)
• Honor Balfour (1912-2001)
• William Clark (1916-1985)
• Sir Robin Day (1923-2000)
• Leonard Miall (1914-2005)
• Keith Kyle (1925-2007)

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Current cataloguing projects

• The papers of Barbara ( later Baroness) Castle
  (1910-2002)
• Honor Balfour (1912-2001)
• Jenifer Hart (1914-2005)
• Francis Hopwood, 1st Baron Southborough
  (1860-1947)
• Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson, Lib-Dem MEP

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Accessions and newly-available material,
February- September 2007

• Accessions and Newly Material
• February September 2007
• Newly available
• Alan Lennox-Boyd, Lord Boyd of Merton (1904-1983)
  96 boxes of de-restricted material.
• New accessions
• M.O. Abbott WHO nurse. Further contribution to UN
  Career Records Project (UNCRP).
• Clement Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee (1883-1967)
  Labour Prime Minister. Letter to Mrs Belcher,
  1949.
• Sir Hugh Carleton Greene (1910-1987) Journalist
  and a former Director-General of the BBC.
  Additional papers.
• Sir Richard Jolly (b.1934) Development economist,
  International Civil Servant and historian. UN
  Intellectual History Project The complete Oral
  History Transcripts from UN Voices
• Oliver Knowles International Civil Servant.
  Additional contribution to UN Career Records
  Project (UNCRP). Papers closed.
• Keith Kyle (1925-2007) Journalist, writer and
  historian. Collection closed until catalogued.
• Leonard Miall (1914-2005) Journalist, BBC
  executive, and historian. Collection closed
  until catalogued
• Emma Nicholson, Baroness Nicholson (b.1941) MEP.
  Additional Papers. Collection closed.
• Alastair Service (b.1933) Writer, historian and
  campaigner. Additional papers.
• St Annes College, Oxford. Digital and paper
  copies of Booklet produced for memorial service
  to the historian Jennifer Hart (1914-2005)

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Accessing the collections

• Online resources
• Department of Special Collections and Western
  Manuscripts
• Modern Political Papers website
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/modpol/index.html
• Online catalogues
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/wmss/online/online
  .htmgt
• Special projects
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/disraeli/
  disraeli.html
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/entente/e
  ntente.html
• The UN at 60
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/modpol/uncrp.htm
• CAIRO and PARADIGM digital projects
• http//cairo.paradigm.ac.uk

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Other Bodleian resources

• In the Special Collections Reading Room in the
  New Library
• Full range of hard copy catalogues, and finding
  aids to uncatalogued collections
• Open shelf printed material including biographies
  and autobiographies of the men and women who
  created the collections
• Modern Political Papers in the Bodleian Library
  (1997), pamphlet, at X.12.1
• Modern Political Database (MODPOL) for
  collections acquired up to 2000. Includes
  information about uncatalogued collections.
• In Duke Humfreys Library in the Old Library
• Cumulated card index for references to
  correspondence in smaller catalogued collections

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Other useful Bodleian sources

• Conservative Party Archive
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/cpa/index.html
• The John Johnson collection of
  printed ephemera
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/johnson/
• The Map section www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/guides/maps
• Bodleian Library of Commonwealth African
  Studies at Rhodes House
• www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/rhodes

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National Archival Resources

• For overviews of nations manuscript collections
• National Archives Register map of resources
• www.nationalarchives.gov.uk./nra/default.asp
• National Archives Hub for collections in UK
  universities and colleges
• www.archiveshub.ac.uk