Corporation of London

Record keeping practices were first encouraged in the medieval period by the periodic review of local administration and justice conducted by the Crown, particularly when permanent legal and administrative courts developed with professional staff. The Town Clerk, first mentioned in 1274, was responsible for encouraging good record keeping and for the safe custody of the records. The records were kept in the Book House, near the Guildhall, and were inspected regularly by the Aldermen, with new shelving, doors and locks ordered in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Book House was not destroyed during the Great Fire in 1666, but the records were moved during rebuilding and became scattered. In the 18th century new rooms were made available for the records and attention was paid to cataloguing and indexing. In 1876 the first Deputy Keeper or Clerk of the Records, Mr R R Sharpe, was appointed. He was given the title 'Deputy Keeper of the Records' because the Town Clerk held the title 'Keeper of the Records' and had done since the 15th century. Before this it seems that the Guildhall Librarians were often called upon to care for the records and conduct research. In December 1940 a bomb destroyed all the offices and some store rooms, while other store rooms survived the collapse of the building. Some of the more ancient records had already been evacuated away from London. The Deputy Keeper of the Records was retitled the City Archivist in 1987.