FFHS-NEWS The Sale of the Broadlands Archives

[News from the Federation of Family History Societies]

The Sale of the Broadlands Archives

The archives contain some 4,500 boxes, dating from the sixteenth century to
the present, centred on the Temple (Palmerston), Ashley, Cassel and
Mountbatten families. It is an exceptional collection, including many
materials of the first rank for the history of the UK and its relations with
its colonies and foreign powers. The Mountbatten papers are effectively the
foundation archive for the modern states of India and Pakistan, and in
addition illuminate Britain’s first major act of post-war decolonisation;
the papers of the third Viscount Palmerston include some 40,000 letters,
many from his private correspondence as Foreign Secretary and Prime
Minister; and the diaries of the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury, reformer and
philanthropist, are one of the great monuments to social progress in
Victorian England.

 

The Trustees of the Broadlands Archives have determined to sell the
collection and have offered it to the University of Southampton. The
expectation is that if negotiations fail, the collection will be sold at
auction, and may well be broken up and dispersed, with many parts not
finding places in public repositories. The net price is a substantial one,
£2.85 million, and the University believes it has 6 months to complete the
transaction. The University is undertaking a major fund-raising campaign to
assure the future of the collection. It is working with funding bodies
including the National Heritage Memorial Fund, but will need to raise
considerable sums from other sources.

 

More information about the archives can be obtained at
www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/Broadlands/index.html, while information
about the fundraising campaign is at
www.soton.ac.uk/supportus/broadlands/index.shtml.

 

Roger Lewry

FFHS Archives Liaison

exec.member.rl at ffhs.org.uk

14 December 2009

 

The Federation of Family History Societies is a Company Limited by Guarantee

Company Number 2930189 (England & Wales) - Registered Charity Number 1038721

Registered Office: Artillery House, 15 Byrom Street, Manchester, England M3
4PF

 

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