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.

The extent of the holdings• The Bodleian holds one of the UK’s

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)

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 )

Public servantsMainly 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

•

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)

Current cataloguing projectsThe 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

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 Anne’s College, Oxford. Digital and paper copies of Booklet produced for memorial service

to the historian Jennifer Hart (1914-2005)

Accessing the collectionsOnline 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.htm>• Special projects:www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/disraeli/disraeli.htmlwww.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/projects/entente/entente.html‘The UN at 60’ www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/modpol/uncrp.htmCAIRO and PARADIGM digital projectshttp://cairo.paradigm.ac.uk

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 Humfrey’s Library in the Old Library:

Cumulated card index for references to correspondence in smaller catalogued collections

Other useful Bodleian sources

Conservative Party Archivewww.bodley.ox.ac.uk/dept/scwmss/cpa/index.html

The John Johnson collection of printed ephemerawww.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

National Archival Resources

For overviews of nation’s 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