ABSTRACT
This chapter explores how memoranda – written communications that give directions and transmit information within bureaucratic structures – are created, have evolved over time and should be read by historians. It starts with a discussion of the history of the production, use of and access to state papers over the past centuries, and shows how this evolution went hand in hand with the professionalisation of the historical profession leading to an emergence of highly specialised constitutional, political, diplomatic and military national and international history writing. The development of the government apparatuses and communication technology around the turn of the century, a time of highly volatile international relations, made this a high point for the writing of the classic ‘think pieces’ memoranda. Decision-makers looked for ever more detailed political analyses and policy recommendations, and in the increasingly hierarchical state bureaucracies, civil servants saw an opportunity to raise their own profile through the production of memoranda. It is from this era that the sample document, the Crowe Memorandum of 1907, has been chosen.
