A NEW SET OF FIRST WORLD WAR DIARIES FOR THE MESOPOTAMIA CAMPAIGN, FEBRUARY 1916 TO JUNE 1917

Two diaries written by a Territorial Force officer serving in Mesopotamia from 1916 to 1917 have been recently discovered. They contain valuable insight into the difficulties and dangers of life on campaign, an account of the action of As Sahilan (11 September 1916), and what appears to be a unique description of the escort of an Ottoman princeling to a prisoner-of-war camp. These diaries help shed light on a theatre of the First World War that is often overlooked in favour of the Western Front. This paper presents some of the most interesting entries and discusses their significance.

TENANTS’ COPIES OF COURT ROLLS IN ENGLAND AND WALES BEFORE 1400

While much has been written about the early development of copyhold, and the presumed origins in the fourteenth century of the practice of making copies of court roll entries for tenants, original copies have not been systematically sought or investigated. This article uses research in 38 repositories to analyse 176 copies of seigneurial court rolls, of which full transcripts are published online elsewhere. It indicates their diverse physical and formal characteristics, the types of court that produced them, their distribution, their chronology and the tenurial aspects of the content. The distribution was far wider at an earlier date than previously believed; by 1400 it included at least three-quarters of English counties, with a more restricted distribution in Wales. Copies before 1400 were made for freeholders as well as customary tenants, but apparently seldom on the death of a tenant. They are found among other deeds in both family and institutional archives.

PRESERVING SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNITY ARCHIVES IN A CONTEXT OF UBUNTU

South Africa is rich in archival collections that contribute significantly to nation building and to sociocultural cohesion in the post-apartheid era. The archives bring the past to life and reveal threads of continuity in the historical development of communities. The present paper discusses personal and independent community archives in localities in Limpopo Province. The study considers villages in their entirety as living, evolving entities. From that perspective it looks at the prospects of personal and independent community archives which are in the custody of, respectively, private individuals and social groups striving sustainably to preserve archival material of interest to broader communities while simultaneously advancing the ubuntu principle (a person is a person through other persons). By conducting unstructured interviews with inhabitants involved in the creation of archives, and by applying the ubuntu principle as a theory that provides insight, it has become clear that personal and independent community archives function as tools that preserve communal memory for the interest of present communities and future generations. The study looks at personal and independent community archives in different localities and identifies ways to better manage such archives for the benefit of the community at large. In Limpopo Province archives of various types have not been meaningfully integrated into mainstream community archives. This has resulted in a gap separating individuals building personal archives from social groups that generate their own repositories. This separation hinders the profitable exchange of informative materials within communities. During interviews, community members have recommended practical steps to improve the preservation of their community archives and promote the ubuntu principle.

THE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION AT 150

The 150th anniversary of the Historical Manuscripts Commission invites the opportunity for reflection on how the commission characterises and influences the development of the archives profession. This article considers archival practice as linked to the mood and character of a nation, in this case Britain. It uses the historiography of post-war identity building to begin to investigate and critique the British archives sector, and asks questions about the future of archives and archivists. The article is adapted from a keynote lecture at the HMC150 commemoration, 14 October 2019.

THE CIVIC IMPORTANCE OF ARCHIVES

The article is based on a short talk given at the parliamentary reception to celebrate 150 years of the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 2019. It draws on some work I did when I was at the British Library and subsequently at Yale University, some of it presented to a conference of the International Federation of Library Associations (IFLA), whose section on rare books and archives I chaired for a few years.

THE HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPTS COMMISSION: CELEBRATING 150 YEARS AND LOOKING TO THE FUTURE (1869-2019)

This is an edited and elaborated version of the address given by Jeff James as historical manuscripts commissioner to the symposium held on 14 October 2019 to mark the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Historical Manuscripts Commission in 1869. He reviews The National Archives’ current activities and priorities as a contemporary expression of the objectives of the HMC royal warrant and concludes that the Historical Manuscripts Commission still forms an integral part of The National Archives’ wider leadership of the archive sector.