IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0100 KCLCA 1982/P, 1984/P, 1988 KAP, 1990/KAP, 1992 KAP, 1999 KAP, 2000/KAP, KAP/F
Held at: King's College London College Archives
Title: King's College London Principal's Office records
Date(s): 1863-1997
Level of description: sub-fonds
Extent: 105 boxes
Name of creator(s): Principal's Office, King's College London
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The Principal is the chief academic and administrative officer of the College, responsible to the College Council. There have been eighteen Principals since the appointment of William Otter in 1831.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
The records of the Principal's Office, King's College London, comprise minutes, correspondence and memoranda, 1863-1997. These notably include minutes of the Delegacy of King's College School of Medicine and Dentistry, 1989-1990, and various committee minutes including those of the Health and Welfare Committee, Joint Medical Advisory Committee and the Committee for the London Institutes for Advanced Study, 1974-1990; a run of general correspondence relating to College business including staff salaries, property, events, scholarships and relations with other universities, 1944-1979; but also more specifically, personal correspondence with Principal Richard William Jelf, 1863-1864; correspondence and papers on quinquennia and outlining the strategic direction of the College and constituent academic departments, including merger negotiations and the College Charter, 1933-1992; Principal's files relating to named departments, faculties and schools, including the United Medical and Dental Schools Merger, 1988-1997; correspondence on students including named individuals, the Student's Union and some pass lists, 1946-1979; correspondence concerning staff appointments, including professorial and other senior vacancies such as Secretaryship and Principalship, individual Chairs, salary scales, sabbaticals and staff-student relations, 1920-1997, correspondence concerning scholarships and awards, 1988-1997; papers relating to College property including proposals for the redevelopment of the College in Bloomsbury, expansion into Somerset House, Strand, and student residences, 1920-1985; minutes and correspondence concerning College libraries including the Ronald Burrows Memorial Library, 1931- 1977; correspondence and papers on the management of the Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, including with donors, 1977-1994; correspondence concerning hospitality and entertainment including Fellows' dinners and graduations, public and inaugural lectures, orations, royal visits and student events, 1946-1997; correspondence and papers charting the relationship of King's with the federal University of London, including Heads of Schools and reports on teaching, post-war reconstruction and the future of Goldsmith's College, 1943-1987; assorted memoranda, 1896-1978.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
Arranged according to year of accession.
Conditions governing access:
Administrative records are generally closed for 30 years except for published material and some committee and other minutes. Student and staff records are subject to an 80 year closure period after the date of leaving.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copies, subject to the condition of the original, may be supplied for research use only. Requests to publish original material should be submitted to the Director of Archive Services.
Physical characteristics:
Finding aids:
Some more detailed lists are available in hard copy in the College Archives reading room.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
The papers will be weeded in due course to reduce duplication.
Accruals:
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Principal's Office, King's College London, 1982-2000.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
King's College London Archives: Records of Ronald Montagu Burrows, Principal of King's College, (Ref: KCLCA KAP/BUR), and Burrows' private papers (Ref: KCLCA K/PP 47); papers of Sir William Reginald Halliday, Principal of King's (Ref: KCLCA Halliday); papers of the Very Reverend Henry Wace, Principal of King's (Ref: KCLCA K/PP 21); Secretary's in-correspondence (Ref: KCLCA KA/IC); Secretary's out-letter books (Ref: KA/OLB). The Secretary's extensive governance, administrative and academic files series contains material that resembles closely records created by the Principal's Office (Ref: KCLCA KAS/AC, KAS/AD, KAS/GC); Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives, King's College London: papers of General Sir John Winthrop Hackett (Ref: KCLMA Hackett).
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Entry compiled by Geoff Browell
Date(s) of descriptions: Jun 2001