Records of the Publications Section

Records of the Publications Section of the Natural History Museum.

• DF 500, Director's Office: Publications Salesbooks
• DF 501, Director's Office: Publications Stockbooks
• DF 502, Director's Office: Booksellers Account Books
• DF 503, Director's Office: Photographic Section Negative Registers
• DF 507, Director's Office: Publications Exchanges Registers
• DF 508, Director's Office: Publications Presentation Books
• DF 509, Director's Office: Postcards and Greetings Cards
• DF 510, Director's Office: Catalogues of Publications
• DF 511, Director's Office: Calendars, Almanacs and Annuals
• DF 512, Director's Office: Diaries

Topics

Museums and galleries

Official publications

Diaries

The Museum has been a publisher throughout its history, producing scholarly monographs and catalogues, expedition reports, periodicals, study guides, popular guidebooks, notes for collectors, posters, wallcharts and postcards. A bookshop opened for the sale of guidebooks and postcards in 1921, and was opened on Sundays after consultation with the Archbishop of Canterbury, as Principal Trustee. From the 1930s editing was the responsibility of the keepers, permission to publish was recommended by the Trustees' Publications Sub-Committee, and arrangements for printing and the preparation of illustrations was in the hands of the Museum Accountant. When Richard J Drumm (1889-1965) retired as Accountant in 1954 he was retained as a part-time Publications Officer to coordinate planning and production. At the same time a review of publications policy led to preparation of a series of popular handbooks in addition to the Museum's scholarly output. Arthur E Baker (b.1910) was appointed the first full-time Publications Officer in 1962, and was responsible for liaison between the science departments and the Director on one hand, and printers and illustrators on the other. By 1967 there was a publications staff of ten, who included clerical officers, printers and retail sales staff. The Section was incorporated into the newly formed Department of Public Services in 1975.