Later correspondence

Unrestricted

From 1860 to 1920, neither correspondence nor registers of the Department as a whole have been preserved in total. But the correspondence of that part of the Department which dealt with estates and wills and corresponded with the Administrators General in India has been preserved and is listed in L/AG/34. It is also possible that the correspondence of the section which administered the Family Pension Funds is extant, but it has not been located. Particular letters have sometimes been bound in volumes of papers of the subject to which they referred. From 1921 until 1955, after which latter date the series of papers relating to accounting matters which concerned Indian Revenues was discontinued, the correspondence which has been retained is divided into two parts, the Collections and the files of other general matters. The Collections represent papers, originally numbered in the general series of subjects which could be fairly well defined, and correspondence about which had usually continued over a period of years. Some of the Collections contain papers from about 1880, and it is possible to trace an individual paper in a Collection by reference to the registers and indexes of general correspondence - but from 1921 only. Each collection is usually a fair proportion of minutes, notes, submissions to Committees and to the Secretary of State in Council. When the main subject of a Collection covered a wide field, sub-Collections were made and those were often numerous. For the purpose of this catalogue, only the titles of the main Collections have been included, but a full list of all sub-collections and a complete index thereto is available separately. When a subject, although of some importance, was settled fairly quickly, it was the practice to make a file within the general series of correspondence, filing it under one of the numbers already given to a particular paper on the file. That number can readily be found from the registers. Correspondence about subjects which, although of short term interest only, recurred annually, were for the convenience of the memory of the staff given the same number each year. The first two hundred numbers in each year were assigned for that purpose. But the division between Collections and general files was not maintained rigidly, particularly during the 1939-1945 War. The Collections, which contain the more important work of the Department and which have historical interest, have been retained virtually intact. But the files of general correspondence, being of lesser importance and on matters often of passing interest only, have been ''weeded'' into a small residue. In addition to the two series referred to above, a personal file was maintained, from 1921 onwards, for each person who was in receipt of pay, pension, allotment of pay, etc. or about whom some enquiry was made. Registers of these were maintained on a card index basis. It was the practice to destroy such files after ten years from the date of death of the person, or ten years after the date of the last enquiry. The index cards have now been destroyed, and the files of continuing pensioners converted into a new system. All the correspondence other than any which is within the closed period, is, in general, available for students. But some parts of Collections relating to Indian Family Pension Funds, may contain information supplied to the India Office in confidence, and might cause distress to persons still living if the contents were divulged. It may therefore be necessary to refuse public access to such papers, but it may be possible to supply information taken therefrom.