Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts
This period of independence ended in April 2003, when another Royal Warrant effectively merged the Commission with the PRO to form the new National Archives.The Chief Executive and Keeper of Public Records is now the sole Historical Manuscripts Commissioner, while the role of Secretary of the Commission is combined with that of Head of Archives Sector Development.The reports themselves were relatively brief and conventional, but in the early years they were accompanied by lengthy appendixes comprising detailed descriptions of the archival collections that had been inspected, in a combination of lists, calendars and transcripts of selected documents.Although the contents of many of the appendixes have been superseded by more comprehensive publications and finding aids, this is not invariably the case, and a number of the early reports continue to be used by researchers.In the same period, however, it began to publish its more detailed reports on collections as separate octavo volumes (or, in many cases, multi-volume series), with the material predominantly presented in calendar form.Between 1982 and 2003, the Commission published twelve thematic volumes in its series Guides to Sources for British History, based in part on the contents of the National Register of Archives (see below).Between 1962 and 1980, the Commission entered into partnerships with local record societies to publish 27 volumes of editions and calendars of significant manuscripts, in what was called its Joint Publications series.
Record CommissionKenwood HouseRoyal Commission on the Historical Monuments of EnglandUnited KingdomRoyal CommissionarchivalPublic Record OfficeThe National ArchivesJohn, 1st Baron RomillyMaster of the RollsPublic Record Office Act 1838Lord RomillyRoyal WarrantMarquess of SalisburyEarl of AirlieEarl StanhopeLord Edmοnd Petty-FitzmauriceSir William Stirling-MaxwellCharles RussellMaynooth CollegeGeorge Webbe DasentT. D. HardyBishop of LimerickLord Talbot de MalahideH. T. RileyHenry Maxwell LyteJohn Knox LaughtonJoseph StevensonReginald Lane PooleW. D. MacrayJ. K. LaughtonHoratio BrownW. J. HardyJohn Gwenogvryn EvansPublic Records Act 1958Lord ChancellorChristopher KitchingNational Archivescommand paperscalendarsHeidelberg Universityfinding aidsoctavoPrime MinistersGladstoneWellingtonPalmerstoncabinetantiquariesrecord societiesarchive repositoriesBritish Records AssociationrepositoriesmanorialChancery LaneHistoriography of the United Kingdom