Collecting policy

Archive Collecting Policy Statement

The following statement was approved by the University's Senate on 11 March 1992.

"The university seeks to acquire by deposit, gift or purchase papers and archive materials in all media of substantial utility for the purpose of furthering research and scholarship in the followig principal areas:

1. Papers of national and international interest and significance which have a connection with the University's region.
2. Papers relating to the Jews and their relationships with other peoples, with a particular interest in the records of national organisations and individuals of Anglo-Jewry
3. Manuscripts which strengthen the University's existing holdings and research collections including Wellington, Palmerston and Mountbatten papers
4. Papers of staff, students and individuals associated with the University

In pursuing this policy the University will have careful regard to the collecting policies of other archive holding bodies."

Development of the Archive and Manuscript Collections

The archive holdings of the University of Southampton and its predecessor, the University College of Southampton and the Hartley Institution, dates back to the 1860s, soon after the foundation of the Hartley Institution. That said, over 95% of the present holdings of manuscripts, which now number some 6.5 million items, have been received since March 1983: it is largely the results of these recent decades of collecting that are represented in the Guide.

Further information is available on the development of the collections at Southampton.