Records of the Business Equipment Trade Association (BETA) and related organisations. The collection includes a complete run of 27 volumes of council minutes, from July 1951 to December 1980. The minutes reflect the association's preoccupation with its role as a public relations body, and with issues affecting its membership, such as VAT or decimalisation. Issues discussed reflect the changing commercial climate, illustrating the increased use of microelectronic technology, although individual products are seldom mentioned unless they are the subject of a dispute. Considerable time is also given over to general internal and administrative matters, and to the continued examination of BETA's aims and activities. Two divisional minute books provide a taste of the activities of the association's sections. Council working papers and correspondence include duplicate minutes of council meetings, reports to council on executive committee meetings, press cuttings, and correspondence relating to association luncheons. A sample of the association's journal is also included.

One ledger, including index of clients, details of clients, orders and payment, 1763-1772.

Memorandum on fires in London and other places, 1778; with inventory and valuation of furniture for Bydorp House, Hanwell, undated (late 18th century).

Records of the Plywood Chest Association including minutes; agreements; memoranda; correspondence; sales ledgers; financial accounts; monthly returns of shipments; price lists and lists of members' agents.

Records of E Atkins and Atcraft furniture manufacturers of Wembley, London, comprising trade catalogues, 1913-1983; ledgers, private ledgers, day books and salary books, 1915-1960s (the run of each series is incomplete); sales summaries, 1933-1973; balance sheets, 1908, 1911, 1913-1915; articles of association, 1922; changes to articles of association, 1946; minutes of Directors' meetings, 1922-1946; designs of cartoons for nursery furniture; address book of staff and travellers; stocktaking book, 1881-1882; exhibitions accounts book, 1921-1963; address book of staff and travellers; tables of descendants of Edwin Atkins and George Clifton Sunley; papers relating to centenary celebrations of the firm, 1979; photographs of company vehicles, 1950s; press cutting of photograph of retired staff [1940s-1950s]. Many of the earlier trade catalogues bear the name of Claude Cyril Atkins, one of the Directors of the firm, and a son of Edwin Atkins the founder of the firm.

Advertisement label, pasted on cloth, for Nathaniel Gladman, trunkmaker, 17--.

Minutes of the British Radio Cabinet Manufacturers Association.

Records of Chest Components Limited, manufacturers of plywood chests, including articles of association; board minute book; papers relating to annual general meetings; statements of manufacturing, trading, and profit and loss accounts; and correspondence with other Harrisons and Crosfield offices.

Records of Peyton and Peyton, bedstead makers, 1854-1881, comprising memorandum and articles of association of the Peyton and Peyton Tube Company Limited, and records relating to property leased by the company, particularly in Cheapside.

Records of Sheer Pride Limited, metal office furniture manufacturer, 1941-1979, including five directors' minute books, company annual returns and one file and one register relating to share transfers.

Records of the Central School of Art and Design, [1896]-1987, comprising minutes of the Advisory Council, 1915-1952; minutes and agendas of the Board of Studies, 1919-1937, 1962-1963; minutes of staff meetings, 1930-1932; annual reports of the Principal and Advisory Committee, 1911-1926; report by the Principal on the aims and organisation of the school, 1913; reports of the Advisory Council, 1926-1933; Advisory Council attendance book, 1915-1951; report of inspection of the Central School, 1920; Board of Education inspection reports of the Central School, 1920-1921; papers concerning aims and organisation of the school, including reports and correspondence, 1913-1956; papers concerning school inspections, including reports, 1929-1953; papers and correspondence relating to diplomas and fellowships, 1921-1953; papers concerning industrial art bursaries, 1947-1955; papers and correspondence relating to the Governing Body, including appointment of governors, 1955-1961;

correspondence concerning the book William Richard Lethaby, 1857-1931 by A R N Roberts (published 1957), [1956]; notes concerning a television programme on the School, 1954; notes on W R Lethaby, with some correspondence of Lethaby, [1909-1930]; visitors book, 1914-1984; timetables, 1973-1977;

photographs of Southampton Row building, [1908]-1970s; photographs of bomb damage to the school, [1942]; photographs of students, [1920s-1990s]; photograph album of students' work, [1950s]; photographs of Khartoum Technical College Department of Fine Arts depicting student life and work, 1963; photographs of life models, [1930s]; floor plans of the Central School building, [1950s];

copies of prospectuses, 1896-1987; prospectuses for departments, 1970s; exhibition catalogues for Central School Book Production and lithography, 1912-1913; degree show catalogues, 1950s-1990s; invitation and publicity concerning students' exhibition of work, 1952;

Students Union members' signature book, 1930-1932; rough lists of members of the Students' Society, 1959-1964; Central School of Arts and Crafts student magazines, 1919, 1920, 1923 (hand drawn and written); Book Production Class magazine (journals for the boys of the Day Technical School of Book Production and Silversmithing), 1912-1913; Printing Class Boys Magazine, 1916, 1926; student newspapers, 1970-1980; student handbook, 1974;

sketch books of R B Neal, of interiors of Hatfield House, sketches and photographs of furniture and notes and sketches on historical furniture styles, [1912-1914]; student essays on interior design and etching, 1954; printed examples of typographical work at a summer school for teachers, 1933;

articles and press cuttings relating to the history of Central School, including magazines and articles on the work of students, 1950s-1990s; press cuttings concerning the opening of the Jeanetta Cochrane theatre, [1962]; articles, obituaries, press cuttings, biographical information and papers relating to W R Lethaby, including his house designs, 1932-1980s; articles, press cuttings, exhibition catalogues, relating to Central School artists and designers, photographs and private view cards, compiled from the 1980s; press cuttings, publicity material concerning Central School exhibitions and fashion shows, 1987-1997;

printed London County Council Education Department records, including reports on technical education, 1912, training and employment in the printing trades, 1914, trade and technical education in France and Germany, 1914; handbook on education visits, 1910; annual report of the Council on higher education, 1911; reports on teachers' conferences, 1909-1914; reports on the Education Act, 1918; Staff Gazette, 1900-1903; Technical Education Board minutes, 1908.

Papers of the Shoreditch Technical Institute, the Technical College for the Furnishing Trades and the London College of Furniture, comprising prospectuses, 1940s-1990s; press cuttings, 1951-1989; student magazines, 1960s-1980s; miscellaneous ephemera and photographs; quinquennial review reports, 1960s. A selection of musical instruments manufactured by students of the London College of Furniture.

Papers of David Medd relating to educational architecture and interior design including project files; architectural plans and drawings; published and unpublished papers; models of classroom furniture; photographs and slides; reports, pamphlets and publications; press cuttings; and lecture notes.