ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the development of local record offices in cities and counties and also more briefly considers the development of business archives and specialist repositories. The Record Commission focused on central public records and the legislators saw no role for local record offices. The Report on Local Records 1902 and Royal Commission Third Report 1919 recognised the importance of records for the administration of local government and for the study of local and national history. The National Rifle Association (NRA) after 1945 stimulated local developments and after 1959 the Public Record Office (PRO) and Historical Manuscripts (HMC) began to take greater responsibility for archival developments across the country, although constrained by narrow legislation. The period 1947 to 1980 was one of consolidation for local authority archives. In the late 1980s archives and archivists changed. Finally, in 2003, The National Archives was formed, MLA's investigation into archives was in progress and consultation over proposed archives and records legislation began.
