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Collections Policy

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Accident Books of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Company

 

GREATER MANCHESTER COUNTY RECORD OFFICE

COLLECTION POLICY

  • Service purpose


    • Greater Manchester County Record Office seeks to identify, collect and preserve the documentary heritage of Greater Manchester and make it available for use both now and in the future, and to encourage the broadest possible public access to archives.


  • Statutory basis for the Record Office


    • The principal statutory basis for the Record Office derives from the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967, the Local Government (Records) Act 1962, and the Local Government Act 1972.


    • The Record Office has been inspected and approved by the Lord Chancellor for the deposit of designated public records under the Public Records Acts, 1958 and 1967. These records include those of Quarter Sessions, coroners, probate, magistrates courts and health authorities.


    • Greater Manchester County Record Office is obliged under the Local Government Act 1972 to make proper provision for the administrative records of Greater Manchester Council. The Record Office fulfils this obligation through its public service.


    • Greater Manchester County Record Office seeks to abide by all current archive legislation.


  • Standards


    • Greater Manchester County Record Office has adopted the Standard for Record Repositories issued by the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1990.


  • Geographical Area


    • The Greater Manchester County Record Office will acquire material from within, or relating to, the administrative country of Greater Manchester as at 1 April 1974. The Record Office seeks to reflect as objectively as possible all aspects of Greater Manchester’s past and present.


  • Co-operation with other repositories where there is overlap of collection policies


    • We work closely with archive repositories within Greater Manchester to ensure that all records are placed in the most appropriate home, and to avoid competition, conflict and duplication of effort. Records which cover more than two of the ten districts within Greater Manchester can be deposited here.


  • Acquisitions


    • The Record Office will acquire records worthy of permanent preservation in the following categories:

      • Records of Greater Manchester Council


      • Records of other local authorities and statutory bodies operating within Greater Manchester


      • Public records offered to the Record Office under the terms of the Public Records Act 1958


      • Records of organisations, businesses, individuals societies, public and private institutions, and other activities relevant to the history and life of Greater Manchester


    • Only records which in the judgement of the County Archivist are of sufficient quality for permanent preservation will be accepted.


    • We will acquire records by: gift (including bequest); purchase; deposit on indefinite loan; statutory deposit; official transfer.


    • Notice of new acquisitions and of any restrictions on access or use will be made public at the earliest opportunity. GMCRO will systematically supply copies of its finding aids to depositors and the National Register of Archives.


    • The Record Office will only accept records that will be open for public access either after processing by the Record Office (including listing and essential conservation work) or after a fixed period of time, agreed in consultation with the owner or depositor.

    • The Record Office will not normally accept archives and records which are of a particularly specialist nature, requiring skills or equipment beyond the office’s resources to preserve, exploit or interpret.

    • Greater Manchester County Record Office reserves the right to refuse records that do not fall within the remit of our collection policy, or where there is concern over the legal ownership of the records.


  •  Exclusions
    •  Records which fall outside the stated geographical collection area of the Record Office, unless forming an integral part of a collection which cannot be divided with loss of archival value, or relating primarily to a Greater Manchester community.

    • Artefacts, three-dimensional objects and works of art. Only where there is a special relationship between an artefact and the associated archives will the Record Office seek to keep the material together.

    • Frames, tin trunks, deed chests and other containers – these will be disposed of by the Record Office (with permission) or returned to the donor.

    • Material judged not to be of permanent historical value.
 

 

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