November 2009
The Broadlands Archives
The Broadlands Archives are one of the foremost manuscript collections in the Special Collections Division of the University of Southampton Library. The archive contains 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 collection has important estate material for Hampshire and for Ireland.
The Trustees of the Broadlands Archives have determined to sell the collection and have offered it to the University. The expectation is that if our 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 we believe we have about56 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.
We would very much appreciate your support in acquiring this for the University and in the national interest. If you would like to contribute, please visit our website - http://www.southampton.ac.uk/archives/ - and do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail ([log in to unmask]) or at the Hartley Library, University of Southampton, Highfield, Southampton SO17 1BJ. This is a national campaign for one of the most important collections of nineteenth- and twentieth-century archives: you can also help by publicising the collection further and by suggesting connections and links that may help us promote the cause. I very much look forward to hearing from you.
Professor Chris Woolgar
Head of Special Collections
University of Southampton Library
Tel.: 023 8059 2989/2721
Fax: 023 8059 5451
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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