Australian Joint Copying Project (1945 - 1993)

Summary

In 1945, the National Library of Australia and the State Library of New South Wales signed an agreement to copy materials held in repositories in the United Kingdom, which related to Australia and the Pacific. This began the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP). Filming of the records began in 1948. The project was closed in 1993 and the final reel of microfilm was received in 1997. In total, more than 10,000 reels of microfilmed records were produced by the project. These records date from 1560 to 1984. Graeme Powell, from the National Library of Australia was the Australian Joint Copying Project Officer, London, 1979-1987 and worked with Professor Rod Home to identify collections that would be useful for the history of science in Australia.

Details

From the NLA website: "The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) is a collection of unique historical material relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific dating from 1560 to 1984. Records filmed by the AJCP include a diverse range of material from UK Government Departments such as the Admiralty, Home Office, Colonial Office, the Dominions Office held by The National Archives of the UK and County Record Offices as well as personal archives and manuscripts of leading politicians, explorers, scientists, religious and missionary societies, convicts and businesses held by private organisations or individuals.

Detailed descriptions and digitised images of all records filmed by the AJCP are available through online finding aids. Specific searches on collections, personal, family and organisational names and subjects can also be done through Trove."

Links to People and Organisations below are for entities that have collections in their own right. Many others are mentioned within collections. For example, the numerous collections from the British Museum (Natural History) contain records dealing with activities of a significant range of people, organisations, expeditions and events.

Each collection has a useful Finding Aid and all collections have been digitised. Each digitised item has a "permalink" and there is a handy citation guide.

Related entries

Published resources

Books

• O'Brien, Ekarestini; National Library of Australia; Australian Joint Copying Project, Australian Joint Copying Project handbook. Part 8, Miscellaneous (M series) (Canberra: National Library of Australia, 1998), 252 pp, https://www.nla.gov.au/research-guides/australian-joint-copying-project/part-8-m-series-miscellaneous-copying. Details

Resources

• Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-556168. Details