Content area
Full Text
Keywords
Records management, Television, Radio, United Kingdom
Abstract
Presents an history of the Written Archives at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), stating that the Written Archives constitute the working papers of the Corporation from 1922 to the 1980s. Looks at present developments and how this will be managed into the twenty-first century.
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Introduction
The British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC's) archives are one of the most important sources for the study of British society and culture in the twentieth century. Writers, politicians, musicians, actors, sportsmen and comedians throng the airwaves. Anyone of note in any field of interest at all, is likely to have been invited to take part in programmes. The Written Archives, held at Caversham Park, Reading, constitute the working papers of the organisation from 1922 to the 1980s. They show in great detail how the BBC went about the task of making programmes, first for radio and later also for television. They detail the planning, production and content of these programmes, encompassing internal memoranda and minutes of meetings, financial records, correspondence with contributors, programme records of various types, extensive press cuttings, audience reaction, concert programmes, publicity and publications. These detailed internal records are available for research. They provide an excellent source for the study of all areas of the BBC's output.
Given its famous objectives "to inform, educate and entertain", the BBC's programmes inevitably cover every kind of subject, but the finished programmes, however interesting, are only part of the story. Of equal interest is the whole process lying behind making the programmes and the BBC's unique role in British society. The value of the organisation's own written records lies in revealing that role. The volume and quality of material available is outstanding.
History of the BBC
The BBC began as a commercial company - a consortium of radio manufacturers brought together by a government fearful of the kind of unrestricted development of the new medium they saw in the USA. It was, however, an unusual company with considerable idealism and a strong sense of the importance of the work it was carrying out. From the...