King's College London , College Secretary's Department

Between 1831 and 1988 the College Secretary rose from Secretary to the Principal and Council to senior administrative officer of the College. Throughout the period the College Secretary had responsibility for servicing the Council, its main standing and special subcommittees, and the Academic Board. In the 1960s, the post of Academic Registrar was reorganised to reflect the coordinated responsibility for student admission and examinations with the Department. Between 1828-1919 King's College enjoyed the services of just four College Secretaries, two of whom served for remarkably long periods, H W Smith, 1829-1848 and J W Cunningham, 1848-1894. The out-letter books form one complete run of copies of letters sent by or on behalf of the Principal and College Secretary for the period 1834-1917. Initially in the form of manuscript copies, by the late nineteenth century experiments (not always entirely successful in terms of legibility) were made with a variety of wet letter processes.