IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0120 SA/ASH
Held at: Wellcome Library
Title: Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
Date(s): c 1971-1988
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 87 boxes and 15 transfer boxes
Name of creator(s): Action on Smoking and Health (ASH)
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
ASH serves to educate the public about the dangers of smoking, to support cessation campaigns - including an annual No Smoking Day - and to campaign for legislation limiting the marketing of tobacco products. Since its foundation in 1971, it has been active in publicising the dangers of passive smoking, worked to discourage smoking by children and campaigned against tobacco marketing in the developing countries.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Papers of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH). The genesis of ASH is illustrated in Fletcher's papers (section Q), arising out of his work on the Royal College of Physicians smoking reports. There is a full run of Committee minutes from 1971 onwards (section B). The bulk of the files are those of the Director, associated with all aspects of ASH's campaigning and administrative work. These overlap to some extent with the files of the Project Officer (section P), which are concerned with various specific campaigns, especially about smoking in the workplace and in public places. Published papers, leaflets, posters and booklets are to be found in files throughout the archive, but section T consists of publications which were filed together, apparently transferred from the ASH library.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
The material when transferred had no clearly discernible original order. This was partly due to the flat structure of ASH - with most of the work, and hence paperwork, generated through the Director. However, some separate groups of papers were identified: the largest being those generated by the Project Officer, a post created in about 1984. In addition, there are also files of Charles Fletcher, relating to his work with the RCP, and to the genesis of ASH, of which he was the first President; and files created by the journalist William Norman, during research in 1977 for his book on the politics of the tobacco industry.
Arranged in sections as follows:
The collection is divided into sections as follows:
A NATIONAL COUNCIL ON SMOKING AND HEALTH WORKING PARTY, 1970
B COUNCIL/EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE/AGM including Minutes [Executive Committee, Council, AGM], 1971-1989; Attendance registers, 1971-1974;
Director's reports, 1980-1988; Annual accounts, 1971-1986; Articles of Association and annual returns to Charity Commissioners, 1970-1980; Organising and Fund-raising Committee, Propaganda Sub-Committee minutes, 1971-1976; Development Committee minutes, 1971-1973 and Officers' meetings minutes, 1978-1984.
C COUNCIL AND EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBERS" CORRESPONDENCE, 1970-1990
D ASH RESEARCH COMMITTEE, 1979-1985
E BRANCHES: Norfolk ASH, 1980-1988; Northern ASH, 1978-1989; Northern Ireland ASH, 1975-1989; North West ASH, 1977-1983; Scottish ASH, 1978-1989; Solent ASH, 1976-1979; Branches annual conference and reports, 1981-1989.
F HEALTH EDUCATION COUNCIL, 1976-1990
G DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND SOCIAL SECURITY, 1973-1987
H PARLIAMENT: British Parliament and MPs, 1971-1990; European Parliament and MEPs, 1977-1990.
J OTHER ORGANISATIONS, 1970-1991
K MEDIA, ADVERTISING AND SPORTS SPONSORSHIP; Advertising and sports sponsorship, 1976-1986; Press releases, 1974-1983; Letters to the press, 1979-1987.
L CESSATION AND PREVENTION
M CONFERENCES: ASH conferences, 1971-1981; Other organisations' correspondence, 1978-1988
N CORRESPONDENCE WITH INDIVIDUALS, 1975-1989
P PROJECT OFFICER, 1978-1990
Q CHARLES FLETCHER, 1956-1979
R WILLIAM NORMAN, 1975-1977
S SURVEYS, 1972-1990
T PUBLICATIONS AND REPORTS: ASH press releases; ASH leaflets, reports and publications; Leaflets, reports, publications of other organisations;
"Chronological listing of certain tobacco industry documents".
Conditions governing access:
The majority of the material is available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. Section T/4 is only available for consultation or publishing with permission from ASH.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
Finding aids:
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
During the course of cataloguing, duplicate items, and those of judged to be of little historical value were weeded from the collection, and some published material transferred to the Modern Medicine Department of the WIHM Library. Weeded files included a large quantity of letters from the public with general queries about smoking, as many such letters are to be found in specific issue files. Letters from the public to the Project Officer about workplace smoking were selectively weeded.
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Action on Smoking and Health deposited its archive with the Wellcome Library in 1991, with further accessions of material in 1994 and 1996.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
In the Wellcome Library: other archival collections of related interest are listed in Sources Leaflet 19: "Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco", which is available in the Library and on its website. Full catalogues of these and other collections listed in the Sources Leaflets are available in the Library.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.
Date(s) of descriptions: Jan 2009