IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 1832 Birkbeck
Held at: Birkbeck College
Title: Birkbeck College Archives
Date(s): 1823-2000
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: Approx. 700 boxes
Name of creator(s): London Mechanics Institution
Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution
Birkbeck Institute
Birkbeck College
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Birkbeck College was founded as the London Mechanics Institution in 1823 with George Birkbeck (1776-1841) as the first President and the aim of instructing members "in the principles of the Arts they practise, and in the various branches of science and useful Knowledge". The Institution changed its name to Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution in 1866; Birkbeck Institute in 1891and finally became Birkbeck College in 1906. In 1894 Birkbeck Institute was linked with the City of London College and the Northampton Institute (now City University) to form the City Polytechnic under a Charity Commission scheme approved in 1891 to facilitate funding for these institutions by the City Parochial Foundation. The City Polytechnic was dissolved in 1906 and Birkbeck College made its first application to become part of the University of London in 1907; it had had recognised teachers, and therefore "internal" students, since 1900. It became a constituent School of the University in 1920 "for evening and part-time students for five years"; in 1933 it was admitted without time limit. The Royal Charter was granted in 1926.
The first permanent building for the Institution was in Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, Holborn. A new building was completed in Fetter Lane in 1885 and the final move to the present premises in Malet Street was made in 1951, although building had begun in 1940.
By 1910 the College had ceased teaching technical and vocational subjects, economics had been transferred to the London School of Economics, followed by metallurgy to the Sir John Cass Institute in 1911 and the Art School closed in 1913. By 1925 all daytime classes had been phased out and the College provided evening teaching in the Faculties of Art (including Music), Science and Law, although Law and Music were transferred elsewhere in 1938. Following the Robbins Report on Higher Education, full-time school leavers were accepted for the first time but the Ashby Report in 1966 recommended that the College should concentrate on providing higher education for students who were in full-time employment. School-leavers were not admitted after 1968 and the College's role in providing part-time first degree and post-graduate education for mature students was confirmed. The Ashby Report also led to the establishment of two new Departments of Economics and of Politics & Sociology, in 1970 and 1971 respectively. These concentrated on post-graduate teaching, as did the Department of Linguistics, begun in 1972. The Hayhoe Committee, appointed in 1986 to counteract changes in the funding of part-time students which threatened the survival of the College, recommended a major restructuring and the transfer of the University of London's Extra-Mural Department to become the College's Centre for Extra-Mural Studies, now the Faculty of Continuing Education.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Archives of Birkbeck College, 1823-2000, including:
Papers of the London Mechanics Institute, including Governing Body minutes, 1824-1866; Management Committee minutes, 1823-1866; Membership registers, 1824-1866; Student fees ledgers, 1837-1857; Lady students, fees register 1854-1867; The Circulator of useful knowledge, literature, amusement, and general information, 1824 (includes some notes of lectures at the London Mechanics Institution); Press cuttings, 1823 - 1839; Mechanics' magazine, Vols 1 - 55, 1823-1851.
Papers of the Birkbeck Literary and Scientific Institution, and Birkbeck Institute, Governing Body minutes, 1866-1906; annual reports, 1878-1906; building fund account ledger, 1878-1889; Birkbeck Institute, inventory of furniture and equipment, 1901-1908; copy letter book, 1890-1906; Principal?s correspondence, 1889; donations register, 1872-1890; student fees register, 1859-1873; Educational Council Minute book, 1866-1873; prizegiving papers, 1873-1881; programmes, 1886-1898; Chemistry Department papers, 1893-1897; Music Class Quarterly Meeting Minute book, 1845-1852; prospectuses, 1883-1895, 1895-1906; syllabuses of classes and examinations, 1880-1896; Students? Literary Society minutes, 1885-1887; City Polytechnic, proposed scheme, 1895-1900; Prospectuses of courses and lectures, 1866-1884; press cuttings books, 1883-1906.
Papers of Birkbeck College, including minutes of Governing Body, and Governors, 1906-1950; papers relating to appointment to Governing Body, 1977-1987; annual reports, 1906-1979; Academic Board minutes; Court of Electors papers, 1919-1950; other committees papers, 1978-1992; general correspondence, 1906-1971; constitution and coats of arms; speeches and addresses, 1906, 1909; Foundation Orations, 1922-1982; Haldane Memorial Lectures, 1929-1980; Walter Neurath Memorial Lectures, 1971-1991; London County Council inspections papers, 1918-1920; papers relating to applications for incorporation in the University of London, inspections and related correspondence, 1899-1950; Joint Committee for the Promotion of the Higher Education of Working People, papers, 1928-1930; Training Colleges Delegacy, Birkbeck College Group papers, 1924-1945; University Extension and Tutorial classes papers, 1930-1939; Principals and Heads of Polytechnics and Technical Institutions in London minutes, 1912-1924.
Papers relating to Birkbeck College during World War One and World War Two, including, circulars, 1914-1918, 1939-1940; war memorial, 1914-1918; preparations, 1939; firewatching, 1943-1945; correspondence, 1939-1945; lectures, concerts and plays, 1940; war damage, 1941-1944.
Financial records including appeals, 1897-1913; papers relating to grants, 1911-1923, 1952-1970s; papers of the University Grants Committee, 1921-1947; centenary papers, 1923; development policies, 1970s; capital and research grants, 1945-1970; cash books, 1920-1980.
Building records, correspondence and plans, 1920-1972.
Departmental papers, mostly 1970s-1980s: Applied Linguistics, Botany, Chemistry, Classics, Computer Science, Crystallography, Economics, English, French, Geography, Geology, German, History, History of Art, Italian, Law, Library, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology, Spanish, Statistics, Zoology.
Registers of students, 1920-1945; statistics relating to students, 1911-1936; Student Union, minutes, papers and correspondence, 1906-1986; papers relating to education of ex-servicemen, 1919-1920; papers relating to lectures and social occasions, 1924-1949; memorial services, 1915-1918; annual dinners and menu cards, 1944-1950; Classical Society minutes, 1908-1912; Friends of Birkbeck account books, 1932-1982.
Papers relating to staff, including AUT papers, 1920-1950; staff applications and appointments, 1929-1945; appointments ledgers; terms of service and superannuation papers, 1970s-1980s; salary books, 1929-1979.
College and student magazines, including The Lodestone, 1905-1966; press cuttings books, 1906-1912; 1920-1982; prospectuses, 1906-1924; papers relating to published histories of Birkbeck College. Personal papers (mainly published articles) of Professor Barbara Gladys Hardy, Professor of English Literature.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
The records are held in 3 locations as follows: Deputy Clerk's Office: main series of minutes less than 30 years old. Personnel Department: pre-1970 main series of minutes; member and student registers and other papers relating to the governance of the College. 45 Gordon Square: large collection of historical material including annual reports and student magazines.
Conditions governing access:
No access is currently available, though researchers may apply to the College Secretary.
Conditions governing reproduction:
At the discretion of the College Secretary.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Survey lists compiled for RSLP AIM25 project; List of historical collections by Richard Williams (former Librarian).
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
Generated and retained in situ by Birkbeck College.
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Birkbeck College: Personnel Department has recent staff files; Registrar?s PA has current student lists and student files. University of London Library, Senate House holds papers relating to the Extra-Mural Department (Ref: UoL).
Publication note:
C Delisle Burns, A Short History of Birkbeck College, 1823-1923; E H Warmington, A History of Birkbeck College, University of London, during the Second World War, 1939-1945.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Janet Foster and Robert Baxter as part of the RSLP AIM25 Project.
Date(s) of descriptions: October 2000; revised October 2001