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.

Records of central administration of the Post Office Telegraphs and Telephones (later Post Office Telecommunications) including records of the Post Office Board (including meeting papers TCB 54), Post Office Advisory Committee and other central functions.

The records concern both strategic telegraphy and telephony activities, such as policy, planning, legal papers (including on the takeover of the National Telephone Company) and routine reporting, and central operational activities including personnel and communications (including Joint Production Council publications, staff magazines, press notices, media coverage and training school and studio photographs).

These central administration records also include the minuted papers relating to telecommunication services 1889-1977 that, for various reasons, fell outside previous archival transfer. The subjects in these minuted papers (TCB 2) include satellite communications (Early Bird), international telephone services, policies toward staff and unions, telephone information services (including ship telephone services, roads and weather, teletourist service, speaking clock and the Santa Claus service), and technological developments (including telephone kiosks, the answering machine, "Amplifying Telephone" and "Laryngaphone").

Records of the Centre for Computing Services (formerly Computer Unit and Computer Centre) of Imperial College, 1955-1980, including annual reports and research reports, 1965; newsletters, 1971; Advisory Committee papers, 1964-1967; papers of Sir Patrick Linstead, Rector, relating to the department, 1955-1963; opening of the unit, 1964-1965; future of computing and organisation of the unit, 1964-1976; working party minutes on the separation of the centre from the Department of Computing and Control, 1974 (KCU); Rectors' correspondence relating to the Computer Centre, 1971-1980, concerning separation from the Department of Computing and Control, headship and future of the centre (KCUB);
Rectors' correspondence relating to the Computing Department, 1966-1981, concerning headship of the department, Chairs of Computing Science and Software Engineering, general matters (KCUC); papers relating to the Department of Computing and Control (later Department of Computing), 1970-1988, including BSc and MSc courses, 1963-1986; research reports, 1970-1971; opening of the Wiliam Penney Laboratory, 1988; Kobler Unit for the Management of Information Technology, 1984-1988; annual reports, research reports (KCUD).

Chelsea Polytechnic, Chelsea College of Science and Technology and Chelsea College Department of Electrical Engineering Records, 1968-1996. This series comprises correspondence with overseas research workers, 1990-1996; rough and fair copy teaching notes and handouts for students on courses taught by John Pearson and others on electronic devices, electromagnetism, circuits and control systems, microwave engineering and communications theory, 1972-1995; tape recordings of lectures on electronic devices, [1975]; Departmental research reports, 1989-1995; papers concerning a reunion of Chelsea Electronics graduates, 1985; incomplete set of examination question papers in Electronics and related disciplines, 1968-1993; group photographs of graduates, 1970-1980, 1985-1986, 1989, 1995; histories of the Electronics Department and other memorabilia, 1977-1978.

Papers of Professor Colin Cherry, [1928]-1981, comprising biographical papers, 1935-1981, notably index of reports on experiments at Northampton Polytechnic, 1935-1936; press cuttings, 1961-1974;
work diaries, 1962-1977; scientific notes and diagrams, [1928]-1950, mainly relating to elastic field analogies, periodic structures, transformers, electric and magnetic circuits;
papers whilst with Imperial College Electrical Engineering Department, 1953-1977, comprising papers relating to lectures, tutorials, seminars, symposiums, minutes and correspondence relating to an undergraduate group project scheme; papers relating to postgraduate lectures, 1950-1979, notably concerning circuit theory, communication; correspondence with staff, lectures for the London School of Economics, and Imperial College groups, 1951-1978; correspondence and reports relating to research projects and grants in the Communications Section, 1949-1977, including for stammering, communication developments and population, telephone services; research papers and notes of students, 1968-1978, correspondence with students, 1947-1971, concerning higher degrees, 1957-1967; correspondence and papers, largely concerning outside lectures, conferences and visits, 1948-1979, with professional, technical and educational institutions, societies, clubs, publishers, companies and some individuals; correspondence with the Institution of Electrical Engineers, 1946-1976, including notes and scripts;
unpublished papers, 1952-1962; correspondence relating to book publications, 1952-1978; published scientific papers and articles, 1940-1977; typescript of chapters of The Age of Access: Information Technology and Social Revolution , correspondence with the publishers, 1978-1979; recordings of talks and lectures, 1963-1976.

The records of the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation reflect the history of Commonwealth co-operation in the field of international telecommunications. The collection is arranged into five general classes:

1. Imperial Communications Advisory Committee, 1928-1945
2. Commonwealth Communications Council, 1944-1949
3. Commonwealth Telecommunications Board, 1949-1969
4. Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Commonwealth Telecommunications Council (CTC), and Commonwealth Telecommunications Bureau, 1966-1987
5. Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), Commonwealth Telecommunications Bureau and the Commonwealth Telecommunications Council (CTC) after 1987
   Each class represents the surviving records of the body that administered Commonwealth telecommunications relations during a particular period. Within each class, the material falls into three broad categories: the annual reports of the administrative body; the minutes, proceedings and memoranda of that body; the proceedings and minutes of committees and subcommittees appointed by the body. Most of this material is collected, by year, into bound volumes. In addition, the collection contains material (in files and bound volumes) that was not generated by the incumbent administrative body, but does relate to Commonwealth telecommunications during the lifetime of that institution and was presumably retained for use in the course of its activities or for reference purposes. Much of this material relates to the reports and proceedings of the Commonwealth Telecommunication Conferences under whose authority the administrative body derived its mandate. In each class, this material is listed under the heading General Documents.

Minutes of the Computer Steering Group Committee, Court of Common Council, 1970-1984. Please note these records are closed.

This series comprises reports, papers, presentations by postal IT staff, handbooks and user guides relating to the different aspects of data processing in the Post Office. Although automatic data processing (ADP) was first introduced to the Post Office on a large scale with the LEAPS system in 1958, POST 113 focuses on ADP in the Post Office from the 1960s onwards. It charts the process of the introduction and implementation of ADP and computer applications and systems to different areas of postal work in order to capture data, streamline postal operational processes and generally improve the daily running of the Post Office.

Examples of material include: a number of reports from the 1960s on new proposals to implement ADP and several files which provide background to: the planning and control of ADP in the Post Office (POST 113/5), the structure of the Computer Development and Office Services Department (POST 113/10) and details of the different computer hardware already in place by the 1960s (POST 113/11).

This series also contains information on the different computer applications and systems proposed and implemented within the Post Office, such as PIVOT (POST 113/23-POST 113/25) and reviews undertaken by the Post Office and external organisations to suggest improvements to existing systems (for example, POST 113/21). In addition, there are files covering the Mails Circulation Project (POST 113/33 and POST 113/34) and the Counter Automation Project (POST 113/38 and POST 113/40).

Finally, there is information on IT strategies within the Post Office and details of the work of the National Data Processing Service (see POST 113/37 for details on the considerations of data protection and computers).There are also examples of computer handbooks and user guides in POST 113/41, POST 113/42 and POST 113/43.

Records of the Globe Telegraph and Trust Company Limited, with records of predecessor and subsidiary organisations as listed below. The records include: minutes and papers presented at meetings, annual reports, constitutional documents, deeds, reports, financial records, administrative files, staff magazines and histories. Deeds which survive from 1717 pre-date the establishment of the business.

Predecessor/subsidiary companies with records in this collection:
Globe Telegraph and Trust Co Ltd;
Aberdeen, Ceylon and Eastern Trust Ltd;
Aberdeen, Edinburgh and London Trust Ltd;
African Direct Telegraph Co Ltd;
Associated Cable Companies;
British Australian Telegraph Co Ltd;
British Indian Extension Telegraph Co Ltd;
British Indian Submarine Telegraph Co Ltd;
Cable and Wireless (Holding) Ltd;
Cable and Wireless Ltd;
Cables Investment Trust Ltd;
China Submarine Telegraph Co Ltd;
Companhia Telegrafica Platino Brasileira;
Connaught Trust Ltd;
Deutsche See Telegraphen Gesellschaft;
Direct Spanish Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern and South African Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern Extension, Australasia and China Telegraph Co Ltd;
Eastern Telegraph Co Ltd;
Electra House Ltd;
Europe and Azores Telegraph Co Ltd;
Falmouth, Gibraltar and Malta Telegraph Co Ltd;
Great Western Telegraph Co Ltd;
Marseilles, Algiers and Malta Telegraph Co Ltd;
Mediterranean Extension Telegraph Co Ltd;
Pacific and European Telegraph Co Ltd;
River Plate Telegraph Co Ltd;
Share Investment Trust;
Victoria Embankment Properties Ltd;
West African Telegraph Co Ltd.

Executive committee meeting minutes of the International Submarine Telegraph Memorial.

Papers, 1915-1971, of Capt George Harold Lever relating to his service as a wireless operator. Papers, 1915-[1956] and undated, relating to the campaign in German South West Africa in 1914-1915 include notes on the campaign which cover a period at Kuruman Mission Station, journey with the Advance Eastern Force Kalahari Desert to Keetmanshoop, joining the column to Karibib and Tsumeb, and accounts of life on the marsh, the Boer natives, and meeting General (Louis) Botha. Photographs of South Africa, 1915, include Kuruman, the desert, and General Botha. Three photographs portray Lever in London, 1915, and Chelmsford, 1919. Papers on the British Military Mission to Southern Russia, 1919-1920, comprise Lever's diary, covering his service as Wireless Telegraphy Officer and including photographs; and glass lantern slides, largely reproduced in the diary. Papers, 1918-1971, on Lever's service and postings between 1914 and 1922 include reports and correspondence.

Papers, 1940-1985, of Wilfrid Bennett Lewis, largely relating to his work on radar during World War Two and including copy of nominal roll of Air Ministry Research Establishment, Worth Matravers, 1940, giving staff details; copies of Telecommunications Research Establishment (TRE) Lists (organization charts), 1941-1944; photocopy of TRE nominal roll, May 1942, giving staff details; photograph of TRE personnel, Nov 1945; two photographs of 'Empire Scientific Conference Visit to TRE', 4 Jul 1946; correspondence between R Van de Hulst and W B Lewis and synopsis of thesis on radar history by Van de Hulst, 1981. Printed material, including scientific papers and newsletters, is largely by authors other than Lewis and comprises offprints, 1946, of W B Lewis, 'Fluctuations in Streams of Thermal Radiation' (from Proceedings of the Physical Society, vol lix, 1947) and 'Radar Receivers' (from Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, vol 93, pt IIIA, no 1, 1946); TRE Memorandum L/M50/WBL: W B Lewis, 'Ultimate limits of Infrared Technique'; Physics Department (TRE) newsletters, 1950, 1952-1953, 1956-1957, 1960-1961, with publications 1957-1960; A M Uttley, The Computation of Pattern Differences', Nov 1952, TRE Gt Malvern; TRE Technical Notes nos 70, 76, 86, 91, 108-109, 114, 120-1, on topics including radar; TRE Report T 2131: W Culshaw, 'The Michelson Interferometer at Millimetre Wavelengths'; TRE Memorandum, Ref RAS/48/7: R A Smith, 'Note on the relative advantages of various types of Rectifier'; part of TRE Technical note no 52, 'Thin film resistors of the noble metals'; publications from the Physics Department, Royal Radar Establishment (RRE) Malvern, 1947-1956; RRE newsletters and research reviews, 1962, 1964-1971; Royal Signals and Radar Establishment newsletters and research reviews, 1980-1982, 1985.

This series consists of reports, memoranda and accounts relating to the organisation, structure, functions and operations of Post Office factories and the Factories Department.

Telecommunications minuted papers relating to Post Office telegraph and telephone services. Minuted papers were those papers which had been submitted to the Postmaster General for a decision, and then been retained in the Post Office registry.

At first, the papers minuted tended only to be the particular case submitted to the Postmaster General but, as time went on, registry staff followed a practice of continuing to add physically to an existing minuted case all other cases on that subject which came to hand. As a result, the minuted papers frequently consist of quite large bundles of files on a common subject spanning many years. The date range of the files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the Former Reference used by the registry staff.

POST 30 records concern telecommunications issues in England and Wales, 1792-1952; POST 31 concern Ireland, 1841-1960; and POST 32 concern Scotland, 1864-1966. On its introduction in 1921, POST 33 superseded these sequences and is concerned with telecommunications issues across all these geographies 1921-51, as does its successor in 1949, with POST 102 covering years 1936-76.

The subject of individual files among the minuted papers can be wide-ranging, from the mundane administrative minutiae to policy decisions on developments of critical importance. The diversity and depth of these files can be seen by such examples as the introduction of Bell's telephones to the Post Office (POST 30/330), signalling systems for Belfast and County Down Railway Company (POST 31/74) , arrangements for female telephonists working late duties (POST 32/254D), development of Rugby Radio station (POST 33/1079B), design of telephone kiosks by Giles Gilbert Scott (POST 33/1448), voice recording service for British and Allied armed forces (POST 102/6), telecommunication scheme plans in case of wartime invasion (POST 121/360), and the London to Birmingham television cable linke (POST 122/471).