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Collections Policy

The Centre collects the personal papers of prominent individuals, and of individuals who have been involved in prominent events, unique archives that do not pass automatically to the Public Record Office.

The Archives Centre accepts primary source material which significantly adds to or complements existing collections, or which falls within its collecting criteria, defined as follows:

The Spencer-Churchill family.

Political life and Government policy, 1900 to the present.

Military strategy and foreign policy, 1900 to the present.

Science, technology and engineering, 1900 to the present.

The history of Churchill College, especially the personal papers of prominent figures connected with Churchill College.

The parameters of the Collection Policy (as approved by the Churchill College Archives Committee) remain wide and Item 2 is accepted as a flexible category. The prime criterion by which papers will be accepted remains that of importance. This will be judged by the Director and his Team, in consultation, if necessary, with academic experts in the relevant fields.

Notes

1: The Archives Centre needs a Collections Policy:

to facilitate the creation of a core of related collections
to help ensure consistency in its dealings with potential donors and depositors
to ensure that the Centre does not collect material that might be better deposited with another repository
to help with grant applications, where such a mission statement is routinely required

2: The Collections Policy is deliberately flexible in order to allow the Archives Centre team the freedom to assess the importance of each unique collection, but the standards are high and the following could be taken as guidelines:

to qualify, politicians must have played a major role in national government or national/international events. A powerful case would need to be made for someone without Ministerial/ opposition spokesman experience.
to qualify, diplomats and civil servants must have had an impact on national policy and public life. A powerful case would need to be made for someone below the top rank (eg: Ambassador, Permanent Secretary or Private Secretary to a key individual).
to qualify, service men and women must have held a major command or played an important strategic role. A powerful case would need to be made for someone below the rank of General/ Admiral/ Air Marshal.
to qualify scientists/technologists/engineers must have had an influence on government policy or public life or have been responsible for scientific discoveries and developments which have had an impact on government policy and public life.

3: The Archives Centre will seek to work within the wider national archival framework to ensure that collections are housed in the most appropriate repository. This may mean steering potential donors/ depositors towards other repositories that already house similar material or indeed that already hold material relating to a particular individual or organisation.

4: The Archives Centre seeks to collect material relating to the "Churchill era and beyond". In practice, our starting point is c1900, although we would not reject part of a collection because it pre-dated 1900.

5: The Archives Centre must assess each collection on the merit of the content of the archive. The Archives Centre does not routinely seek to acquire personal financial and property records, works of art, library stock, newspapers, artefacts, and photocopies and surrogates of material held elsewhere, whatever the status of the individual or institution generating such material. The Archives Centre will seek to liaise with potential depositors and to advise on what should/should not be permanently preserved.

6: The Archives Centre reserves the right to apply similar criteria to the collections it already holds, but recognises that any de-accessioning must be handled sensitively, and that the depositors or their heirs must be informed and offered back unwanted material wherever possible. De-accessioned archival material should be returned, offered to another repository or destroyed, and not sold (without the express permission of the owner and due regard to the ethical considerations).

7: The Archives Centre seeks to acquire material as gift. A permanent loan can be considered, but the Archives Centre will not take material on a temporary basis unless there is an exceptional reason for doing so (such as a short-term commercial arrangement).

8: The Archives Centre will not seek and does not have the financial resources to purchase collections, although it may encourage trusts and individuals to purchase material on the understanding that the material is then presented to the Archives Centre as a gift or permanent loan.

9: The Archives Centre encourages donors and depositors to consider giving the College such personal copyrights and intellectual property rights as they may own in the papers, and encourages them to consider supporting the long-term future of the collection.

10: This policy and the attached guidelines will be reviewed regularly by the Director of the Archives Centre and the College Archives Committee.

Allen Packwood
Natalie Adams
Andrew Riley

5 April 2002

Further information about the collections already held by Churchill Archives Centre is available in the collections area of our site. Please note that the Historical Manuscripts Commission advises owners of archives and papers on the choice of a record office or library where they may deposit their papers.

For further information, please contact:

Allen Packwood
Director
Churchill Archives Centre
E-mail director.archives@chu.cam.ac.uk
Telephone (01223) 336175