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Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

College Secretary / Chief Executive

IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 1538 RCOG/A8

Held at: Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Title: College Secretary / Chief Executive

Date(s): 1937-2003

Level of description: Collection

Extent: 24 boxes

Name of creator(s): Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

Until 1930 the College did not have a permanent Secretary, but in December 1930 the President recommended that the private secretary of Sir William Fletcher Shaw, Miss W E Mallon be appointed as permanent Secretary to the College. Initially the function of the Secretary was purely administrative, as the College grew in size the Secretary became the senior manager of the College, responsible for general management of the College and all its departments in direct liaison with the College Officers, Council and committee chairmen. As the College Secretary's responsibilities expanded, it became necessary to pass certain functions to other departments or officers (for example, in the 1980's responsibility for overseas affairs was passed to the Vice President). In 1999 a Personnel Officer was appointed, under the overall control of the College Secretary. The role involves:
Attendance of Council meetings, the Finance and Executive Committee and Council elections.
Control of special funds.
Operational and management responsibility for major projects.
Overseeing the production of educational resources for training and continuing professional development.
Providing general education development support and advice in a number of forums.
In 2005 the post was renamed as the Chief Executive/Secretary to the Board of Trustees.

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

Correspondence files which reflect the changing responsibilities of the College Secretary, with records relating to the Journal, gifts and donations, and correspondence with other royal colleges and related bodies. College papers regarding Dr Ornella Moscucci's unpublished history of the RCOG (1987-1999). Also records concerning the Faculty of Family Planning (1976-1992) and Birthright, later Wellbeing (1985-2003), and papers of College Secretary's meetings (1996-2003).

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

These records are closed because they contain information about planning and policy.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Physical characteristics:

Finding aids:

An alphabetical list of founder Members is available from the College Archivist. This is list has been copied from the first Annual Report 1929-1930 and there is also a copy from the fifth Annual Report 1934.

The College Archives holds card indexes of deceased and living MRCOG holders between 1929 and 1998. The indexes note the date of admission to the MRCOG.

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:

Records of the College Secretary's Office are transferred to the Archives as reference ceases and disposed of in accordance with Disposal Agreement No 4 between the College Secretary and the Archivist.

Accruals:

Accruing.

Archival history:

Early records created by the first Secretary (1930) are mixed with the President's papers. Some correspondence of the College Secretary relating to major functions has been removed and placed in subject-based series (see allied materials).

Immediate source of acquisition:

Almost all the records have been transferred to the Archives by the College Secretary/Chief Executive; one or two miscellaneous items were transferred by other departments (e.g. some staff handbooks were transferred from the College Library in 2001).

ALLIED MATERIALS

Existence and location of originals:

Existence and location of copies:

Related material:

Publication note:

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Archivist's note: Imported from the RCOG catalogue and edited by Sarah Drewery.