IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0505 BC AR400-479
Held at: Royal Holloway, University of London
Title: Accounts of Bedford College
Date(s): 1849-1983
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 119 boxes and 83 volumes or 2.02 cubic metres
Name of creator(s): Bedford College
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Throughout its history, the financial records of Bedford College have been created and maintained by a variety of different departments. Financial responsibility and control was always in the hands of the Council. For the first year of its existence, the Chairman, Rev Dr James Booth, kept accounts, until the institution in 1850 of a procedure for the drawing of cheques and a decision to appoint an auditor to check the accounts regularly. The Lady Resident and Lady Superintendent administered the fees and the household of the College and the Residence respectively from 1849-1893, both roles later being taken over by the Principal. The Council instituted a Finance Committee in 1889 (the joint post of Honorary Treasurer and Chairman of the Finance Committee was created in 1899), which reported to the Council upon all the financial affairs of the College. Day-to-day administration of financial matters seems to have been left to the Secretary, with help from the Honorary Treasurer, especially relating to Staff salaries, scholarship trusts and building and extension fundraising. [All expenditure had to be agreed by the Finance Committee and the Council].
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Main financial registers of Bedford College, 1849-1965, including accounts ledgers, 1865-1964; records of student fees, 1849-1963; summary of student fees, 1965-1966; Journals, 1921-1963; Transfer Journals, 1965-1970; Grants Ledgers, 1900-1909; Cash Account Books, 1888-1963; Principal's Cash Book, 1894-1909; Petty Cash Books, 1904-1961; Cash Books and receipts, 1922-1969; Council Cheque Schedule Books, 1889-1965; College Account Book, 1891-1911. Early accounts of Bedford College (kept by the Lady Resident), including student fees, 1856-1866 and household bills, 1856-1866. Annual accounts, 1894-1977, notably balance sheets, 1894-1931; annual accounts and working papers, 1920-1983; estimates of receipts, 1899-1940; working papers and final figures for University Grants Council Returns, 1928-1977, with Quinquennial accounts, correspondence, and estimates, 1936-1972. Material relating to students' accounts and scholarships, 1861-[1965], including Students' Maintenance Grant Accounts, 1925-1956; Registration Fees Account Book, 1948-1958; Account Books for the Old Pupil's Scholarship Fund, 1861-1911; Accounts for various scholarships and funds, 1877-[1965]. Papers relating to Staff salaries and revisions, 1894-1976, including material on salary scales of and payments to teaching and administrative staff, research fellows and visiting lecturers, 1894-1973; wage and wage analysis books, 1945-1972, for Student Demonstrators, Visiting Lecturers, Laboratory Technicians, Household Staff and Junior Administrative Staff; letters of appointment to temporary and part-time staff, 1954-1957; monthly payroll computer printout, 1975-1976; wages signature books, 1912-1963, for Bedford College Household, Maintenance, Domestic, Laboratory and Administrative staff; papers relating to salary scales of lecturers, 1901-1906; Personnel Accounts, 1922-1949; material relating to the Bedford College Pension Scheme, 1907-1976, including ledgers, financial papers, Forms of Agreement, and tax sheets. Account books and legal papers for Capital Buildings Projects, 1903-1970, including a Day Book for the Building and Endowment Fund, 1904-1916; Accounts of the Extension fund, 1926-1932; and papers relating to war damage to the College buildings, 1945-1954. Household Accounts, 1910-1969, including Household Accounts, 1910-1938; Bursar's bills for payment by the Household Committee, 1941-1947, and Finance Committee, 1941-1955; Household Cash and Analysis Books, 1941; Wages Analysis Book for Household and Garden, 1941; Accounts of the Stationery Shop, 1959-1969; Account books for the Athletics ground, 1932-1944. Accounts for special funds, 1894-1968, including the Principal's Loan Fund, 1894-1955, the Geraldine Jebb Memorial Fund, 1961, and the Paterson Memorial Fund, 1943-1948.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Mainly bound volumes: other papers are arranged in files according to subject.
Conditions governing access:
Administrative and Committee papers are closed for 30 years from the last date on file. Papers relating to individuals are usually closed for 100 years from the subject's birth. Users are advised to consult the College Archivist for specific details.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies of open material may be supplied, subject to the condition of the original. Requests to publish original material should be directed to the College Archivist.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
'A catalogue of the Archives of Bedford College (University of London), 1849-1985' by Claire Gobbi Daunton and Elizabeth Bennett, 1987.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
The papers were transferred from the Bedford College Archives when the College merged with Royal Holloway in 1985.
Immediate source of acquisition:
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
The Royal Holloway, University of London Archives hold minutes of the Finance Committee, 1889-1985 (BC GB150); University Grants Council and Universities Central Council on Admission financial statements, 1969, 1976-1982 (BC AR251-254); minutes and correspondence of the Building and Endowment Fund, 1905-1917 (BC AR500/1/1-5), and the Extension Fund, 1919-1931 (BC AR520-523); account books for the Boarding House, 1874-1901 (BC AR820), 7 York Place, 1903-1917 (BC AR824/5), South Villa, 1909-1916 (BC AR830/2), 35 Dorset Square, 1924-1940 (BC AR843/1/1-2), Bedford College House, 1939-1950 (BC AR852-853), Hanover Lodge, 1931-1965 (BC AR862/1-2), Tennyson Hall, 1970-1971 (BC AR873/1), and Broadhurst Gardens, 1939-1949 (BC AR883); Secretary's correspondence concerning grants from the Treasury, University of London and London County Council (BC AR340-353).
Publication note:
A history of Bedford College for Women, 1849-1937 (Oxford University Press, London, 1939), by Dame Margaret Jansen Tuke; Educating women: a pictorial history of Bedford College, University of London, 1849-1985 (Alma Publishers, Surrey, 1991), by Dr Linna Bentley.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Sarah Aitchison as part of the AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Apr 2000