home
***
CD-ROM
|
disk
|
FTP
|
other
***
search
/
CD-ROM Aktief 1995 #3
/
CDA3.iso
/
genealog
/
pro23txt.zip
/
PRO_23.TXT
Wrap
Text File
|
1995-01-06
|
13KB
|
341 lines
**********************************
PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
RECORDS INFORMATION Leaflet No: 23
**********************************
[Note: this and all other PRO Records Information leaflets are Crown
Copyright, but may be freely reproduced except for sale or advertising
purposes. Please respect this]
----------------------------- start of text --------------------------
RECORDS OF THE AMERICAN AND WEST INDIAN COLONIES BEFORE 1782
The British colonies on the western shores of the Atlantic were founded and
developed in a variety of circumstances during the seventeenth and
eighteenth centuries: as a result their legal status and administrative
arrangements followed no common pattern. Control by the authorities in
London was seldom close and in some colonies, at some periods, almost non-
existent. Local government was generally conducted by officials of the
colonies themselves, and the records thereof are preserved, if they
survive, in the appropriate state archive, where any inquiry should first
be pursued.
The responsible authorities in London were the Secretaries of State and the
Board of Trade. Of the two Secretaries, it was the Secretary of State for
the Southern Department who was primarily, if not exclusively, charged with
the oversight of colonial administrations, except for the period between
1768 and 1782, when a third Secretary of State, the Colonial or American
Secretary, was appointed. For much executive action, advice and routine
administration, however, the Secretaries were dependent on the Lords of
Trade and Plantations, commonly known as the Board of Trade. The Board was
founded in 1696 to succeed a variety of bodies with similar titles and
overlapping jurisdictions which had existed at various periods since 1660.
Its functions were originally purely advisory, but came in time to include
much of the administration of the colonies, and to its offices at
Plantations House were addressed many of the papers now in the Public
Record Office.
PRINTED GUIDES
The prime source of information about the records held in the Public Record
Office is:
C M Andrews Guide to the Materials for American History to 1783 in the
Public Record Office (2 vols, Carnegie Institution, Washington, 1912).
Some of the references given are now obsolete, but can be keyed to those in
current use.
A complete history of the records with guidance on their use, giving the
references in their modern form, is to be found in:
R B Pugh The Records of the Colonial and Dominions Offices (PRO Handbook No
3, HMSO 1964).
Documents in the Public Record Office and elsewhere not mentioned by
Andrews are described in:
B R Crick and M Alman eds. A Guide to Manuscripts Relating to America in
Great Britain and Ireland (Mansell Publishing 1961) a revised edition of
which has been prepared by John W Raimo and published, under the same
title, by Meckler Books/Mansell Publishing (1979).
Documents relating to the Caribbean are noted in:
H C Bell, D W Parker and others Guide to British West Indian Archive
Materials, in London and in the Islands, for the History of the United
States (Carnegie Institution, Washington 1926); and P Walne ed. A Guide to
Manuscript Sources for the History of Latin America and the Caribbean in
the British Isles (Oxford University Press, 1973).
PRINTED TEXTS
The texts or abstracts of many documents from 1574 to 1738 can be found in:
Calendar of State Papers Colonial (HMSO, 1859 onwards).
Documents of the period from 1770 to 1783 are being similarly published as:
K G Davies ed. The Documents of the American Revolution (21 vols to date,
Irish University Press 1972 onwards).
ARRANGEMENT OF THE RECORDS
The arrangement of the earlier records does not reflect the respective
roles of the Secretary of State and the Board of Trade. The class Colonial
Papers: General Series (CO 1) was brought together by W N Sainsbury, first
editor of the Calendar of State Papers Colonial: it contains, in
chronological order, all the papers printed in the Calendar and dated not
later than 1688, the original terminal date of the publication.
From 1688, and in a few instances before, until 1807, the records relating
to the American colonies are combined in America and West Indies: Original
Correspondence etc (CO 5). The records are arranged by colony:
Carolina (Propriety);
North Carolina;
South Carolina;
Connecticut;
East Florida;
West Florida;
Georgia;
Maryland;
Massachussets;
New England (Massachussets, Rhode Island, New Hampshire
and Pennsylvania);
New Hampshire;
New Jersey;
New York;
Pennyslvania;
Rhode Island; and
Virginia and the Proprieties (including the Bahamas,
Carolina, Connecticut, Maryland, East and West New Jersey,
Pennyslvania and Rhode Island).
In spite of its title, the class does not include records of the colonies
of Canada and the West Indies and includes only one, the Bahamas, which did
not come to form part of the United States.
For each colony there are five main types of record the Original
Correspondence with the Secretary of State and with the Board of Trade;
Entry Books of both; collections of Acts, and of Sessional Papers, of the
colonial legislature. In addition there are for some colonies Naval
Officers' Returns of shipping, collections of land grants and other
materials, and military and naval despatches. Documents concerned with
Indian affairs and other, more general matters, are arranged in separate
series.
The records concerned with:
Antigua and Monserrat;
Bahamas;
Barbados;
Bermuda;
former French colony of Canada;
Dominica;
Grenada;
British Honduras;
Hudson's Bay;
Jamaica;
Leeward Islands (including Antigua, St Kitts, Montserrat,
Nevis and the Virgin Islands);
Montserrat;
Nevis;
Newfoundland;
Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island;
Prince Edward Island;
St Kitts;
St Lucia;
St Vincent;
Tobago;
Trinidad; and
Virgin Islands
are arranged in the same way, but each series forms a separate class. The
class numbers are listed by Pugh and Andrews and can also readily be
identified in the Current Guide in the Reference Room. Some records deal
with matters concerning the Colonies in general. They are in the classes:
Colonies General: Original Correspondence CO 323
Entry Books CO 324
Board of Trade: Original Correspondence CO 388
Board of Trade: Entry Books CO 389
Board of Trade: Miscellanea CO 390
The class Board of Trade: Minutes (CO 391) includes the Journal of the
Board of Trade. Entries before April 1704 appear in the Calendar of State
Papers Colonial, and those for the period April 1704 to May 1782 in:
Journal of the Commissioners for Trade and Plantations (14 vols
HMSO 1920-1928).
ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE
There are collections of reports and papers from, and orders and
instructions to, the responsible officials in each colony, especially the
governors. The correspondence of the Secretaries of State and the Board of
Trade are in separate sequences. Each contains not only correspondence
with the colonies but also with other officials and private individuals in
the United Kingdom and between the Secretary of State and the Board.
From 1703 to 1759 manuscript calendars of the correspondence of the Board
with each colony were compiled: these are in General Registers (CO 326)
pieces 1 to 51. From 1759 to 1782 a single, annual, calendar was prepared
for all colonies: this series is CO 326 pieces 52-74.
ENTRY BOOKS
These are letter books containing copies of despatches, letters, reports,
petitions, commissions and instructions, either in full or in abstract.
Before 1700 papers received as well as papers despatched are noted. The
Entry Books served as the primary record of outgoing correspondence, in
particular royal commission, instructions and warrants: they were not
in