British Coal Board Research Reports
Cataloguing project funded by RSLP (Research Support Libraries Programme) in the context of the collaborative Mine of Information project, 2000-2002.
From the 1950s, the National Coal Board was responsible for setting up a number of research institutions. They investigated and published reports on a variety of topics, including engineering, mine safety and associated issues. Copies of these reports, held in the NCB library at Bretby, Derbyshire, were allocated in 1995 to the custody of the Department of Manuscripts and Special Collections by the Public Record Office.
The cataloguing of these extensive series of reports was made possible by the RSLP project ‘Mine of Information’, led by Swansea University and focusing primarily on the South Wales Coalfield. Although the reports have the status of public records, they were catalogued as printed items, rather than archives, using bibliographical standards. The catalogue records can be accessed through Nottingham University Library's online catalogue. The reports themselves are available for consultation in the Reading Room of Manuscripts and Special Collections.
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