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- Held At: GB 813 The Royal Mail Archive, Freeling House
- Finding Number: POST 122 Series
- Date: c.1896-c.1980
- Level: Series
- Extent: 12500+ files
- Creator Name: GPO
- Administrative or Biographical History: The system of 'minuting' papers submitted to the Postmaster General by the Secretary to the Post Office for a decision (i.e. numbering the papers, and separately copying a note of the paper as a 'minute' into volumes indexed by subject) was introduced in 1793. It remained in use by the Post Office Headquarters registry until 1973. Until 1921, several different major minute series were in use: that concerned with the Packet Service (POST 29), and those concerned with England and Wales (POST 30), Ireland (POST 31) and Scotland (POST 32). From 1790 until 1841, parallel 'Report' series were in use by the Secretary (POST 39 & POST 40) In 1921, the several different minute series were replaced by a single all-embracing series (POST 33). This was suspended in 1941 as a wartime measure when a Decimal Filing system came into use (POST 102), but was resurrected in 1949. In 1955 the registration of Headquarters files began to be decentralised under several local registries serving particular departments, although the 'minuting' of cases considered worthy of preservation, and the assimilation of later cases with earlier existing minuted bundles, continued until 1973.
- History of Ownership: This class of records was divided between the Post Office and BT Archives in 1991, when telecommunications records were transferred to BT custody.
- Description: This series comprises 'minuted' papers relating to all manner of Post Office matters.
'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 files is consequently often much earlier or much later than the date suggested by the 'Former Reference' used by the registry staff and, in many cases, the precise dates covered by the files have not yet been listed. 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.
Some abbreviations used in file titles (not an exhaustive list):
BFPO: British Forces Post Office
DG: Director General
IHDS: International Household Delivery Service
IMP: Integrated Mail Processor
IMS: Institute of Manpower Studies
IOC: International Olympic Committee
IPBS: Infectious Perishable Biological Substances
IPC: International Post Corporation
IPT: Industry and Parliamentary Trust
ISIS (pay): Individual Salary Increase System
ISIS (postage stamps): Immediate Sales Indicator Systems
ISM: Information Systems Manager(s)
LPR: London Postal Region
NPM: National Postal Museum
PMG: Postmaster General
POB: Post Office Board
POC: Post Office Circular
POP: Post Office Preferred
POUNC: Post Office Users' National Council
P&TO: Postal & Telegraph Officers
PRU: Pay Research Unit
RFU: Rugby Football Union
TPO(S): Travelling Post Office(s)
UPW: Union of Post Office Workers - Language: English
- Related Material: GENERAL GUIDE TO REPORTS AND MINUTES: POST 122 is one of several POST classes that contain reports and minutes that have been generated at Headquarters level, usually for the purpose of bringing a variety of Post Office matters to the attention of the Postmaster General. Records can relate to people, places or subjects. The various POST classes that hold these records cover the years 1790-1973. The reason there are numerous classes for such records is that organisational changes have occurred within the Post Office through the decades and different and sometimes overlapping systems have been put in place for such record keeping. For a fuller understanding of central records and how the POST classes that they can be found in relate to each other, readers are advised to consult the 'Guide to Reports and Minutes', which includes a timeline that illustrates what periods and subjects are covered by the various POST classes and how they relate to each other. This can be viewed in The Postal Museum search room or online. For now, here are two pointers. 1. As a rule of thumb, there are two POST classes for each run of records. One class contains the full paperwork for each case ('papers') and the other class is likely to contain an index or series of prcis to this material ('volumes'). This means that the indexes of a 'volume' class will often list the material in the corresponding 'papers' class by subject, name, or place. 2. There are a number of POST classes that address issues such as Packet Service minutes, Scottish minutes, Irish minutes and miscellaneous matters. However, the principal classes likely to address central issues of general importance for England and Wales are: 1790 - 1840: POST 40 (POST 42 volumes) 1840 - 1921: POST 30 (POST 35 volumes) 1921 - 1955: POST 33 (POST 38 volumes) (1941 - 1948): POST 102 (overlaps with POST 33) 1955 - 1973: POST 122 (also POST 35 volumes) POST CLASSES SPECIFICALLY RELATED TO POST 122: POST 38 (Postmaster General's Minute Volumes) is the accompanying class to POST 122, as it contains indexes and series of prcis to the material in POST 122. For records before 1955, see POST 33 (Postmaster General's Minute Papers) for the period 1921-1954 and see POST 102 (Decimal Filing Series) for records relating to the period 1941-1948. For records before 1921, the best starting place is POST 30. Finally, POST 121 (Miscellaneous Papers) contains miscellaneous minute papers of a similar nature to those found in POST 122 but for various reasons were not filed as such. POST 121 covers the dates 1851-1981 and so all of the papers in this class covering the period 1955-1973 overlap with the material in POST 122.
- Legal Status: Public Record
- Access Status: Open
- Access Conditions: Subject to 30 year closure
- Reproduction Conditions: Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Postal Heritage Trust's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. See our published policies for full details. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.
- Archivists Note: Descriptions imported by Adrian Steel
- Rules: Compiled in compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UK Archival Thesaurus 2004; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997; and PROCAT rules, 2000.
- For more information contact: British Postal Museum and Archive
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