Post Office: Secretary's general minutes to the Postmaster General: Volumes

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0813 POST 38 Series
Held at	: British Postal Museum and Archive: The Royal Mail Archive   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://catalogue.postalmuseum.org/ ›
Full title	: Post Office: Secretary's general minutes to the Postmaster General: Volumes
Date(s)	: 1921-1973
Level of description	: Series
Extent	: 384 volumes
Name of creator(s)	: No further information available

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

A number of major changes took place during the period covered by this series. From 1 April 1922, Post Office services in Southern Ireland were transferred to the control of the provisional Irish Government. The growth in administration meant that aspects of work relating only to matters of local interest were devolved from central headquarters to district surveyors. In 1934 as part of a general reorganisation of the Post Office, a Director General was appointed to replace the office of Secretary to The Post Office. At the same time a Post Office Board was created under the chairmanship of the Post Master General. Further changes in 1934 led to the replacement of district surveyors by regional directors, who were given full powers of day-to-day control of local postal and telecommunications affairs in their regions. This reorganisation was complete by the mid-nineteen forties, with an increasing amount of work concerning local affairs being devolved from Headquarters, leaving it to deal only with matters of general policy and those outside the scope of regional authority.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

This series consists of volumes containing the title of every minute submitted to the Postmaster General relating to all aspects of Post Office administration. There are also separate bound indices to the minutes. This general minute series was introduced in 1921, replacing the formerly separate England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and Packet series of minutes.

Much of the actual paperwork referred to in these volumes can be found in the accompanying class POST 33 (Postmaster General's Minute Papers). Minutes referred to in this class can also be found in POST 102 (Decimal Filing Series) and POST 122 (Minuted and Decentralised Registry Papers). For further details of how this class relates to the other report and minute classes, see the following section 'Related Material'.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

In date order within series

Conditions governing access:

Public Record

Conditions governing reproduction:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Finding aids:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Please contact the Archive for further information.

Allied Materials

Related material:

GENERAL GUIDE TO REPORTS AND MINUTES:

POST 38 is one of several POST classes that contain reports and minutes that have been generated at Headquarters level, usually for the purpose of bringing a variety of Post Office matters to the attention of the Postmaster General. Records can relate to people, places or subjects. The various POST classes that hold these records cover the years 1790-1973. The reason there are numerous classes for such records is that organisational changes have occurred within the Post Office through the decades and different and sometimes overlapping systems have been put in place for such record keeping. For a fuller understanding of central records and how the POST classes that they can be found in relate to each other, readers are advised to consult the 'Guide to Reports and Minutes', which includes a timeline that illustrates what periods and subjects are covered by the various POST classes and how they relate to each other. This can be viewed in the BPMA search room or online. For now, here are two pointers.

1. As a rule of thumb, there are two POST classes for each run of records. One class contains the full paperwork for each case ('papers') and the other class is likely to contain an index or series of précis to this material ('volumes'). This means that the indexes of a 'volume' class will often list the material in the corresponding 'papers' class by subject, name, or place.

2. There are a number of POST classes that address issues such as Packet Service minutes, Scottish minutes, Irish minutes and miscellaneous matters. However, the principal classes likely to address central issues of general importance for England and Wales are:

1790-1840: POST 40 (POST 42 volumes)

1840 - 1921: POST 30 (POST 35 volumes)

1921 - 1955: POST 33 (POST 38 volumes)

(1941-1948): POST 102 (overlaps with POST 33)

1955-1973: POST 122 (also POST 35 volumes)

POST CLASSES SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO POST 38:

In 1921, a significant change occurred to the way all reports and minutes were recorded. Before this time, reports and minutes for England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland, and overseas services had been recorded separately. From 1921, they were all amalgamated into the all-encompassing POST 38 (Postmaster General's Minute Volumes) and POST 33 (Postmaster General's Minute Papers).

POST 33 contains many of the actual papers that are referred to in POST 38 and is therefore the class of records that is most closely related. However, POST 33 was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use and so for the years 1941-1948 a separate run of minutes was kept and these can be found in POST 102 (Decimal Filing Series). With the war over, POST 33 was resurrected and continued to run from 1948 until 1955. In 1955 minute keeping became more decentralised and from this time minutes concerning national matters were kept in a new run of records, which can be found in POST 122 (Headquarters Minute Papers). Minutes stopped being kept in 1973. POST 38 is therefore the 'volume' class for three 'papers' classes: POST 33, POST 102, and POST 122.

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Entry checked by Barbara Ball

Rules or conventions:
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
Entry checked June 2011