Types of Material Covered
Staff and Civil Lists
These have all been catalogued online.
Colonial Blue Books
Holdings of all colonial 'Blue Books' held in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection can now be found online.
Other Government Reports
Holdings of all reports published in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Chinese Treaty Ports, Korea (Chosen), Egypt, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana (Gold Coast), Uganda, Kenya, East Africa, Tanzania (Tanganyika), Zanzibar and South Africa are now online. In addition, so are those published in the West Indies, including Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Leeward Islands, Antigua, St Christopher, Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, British Virgin Islands, Trinidad, Tobago, Windward Islands, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Belize, British Guiana, and also those published in the Falkland Islands.
Directories and Yearbooks
Holdings of all directories and yearbooks held in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection can now be found online.
Q. Directories and Yearbooks
Though not strictly ‘official’, these resources make up a substantial part of the collection and are heavily used. A mixture of almanacs, yearbooks and directories, including Post Office directories and Kelly’s directory, are held, together with staff lists published in the United Kingdom, such as the Colonial Office List and the India Register. Items in the collection range in date from around 1850 to 1970 and include a number of rare texts. Almost all of the collection, some 99%, is in English though a few titles in German and French are included. Yearbooks and directories are an important resource for research into social, economic and family history.
Topics covered include:
- Historical and descriptive information about what a place was like and what facilities were offered
- Information on government and administrative departments
- Industry, commercial and trade information (at times including addresses of businesses and lists of staff)
- Information on transport and communication
- Lists of solicitors, medical practitioners, holders of ecclesiastical office, etc.
- Social information such as listings of societies, information on local events and dates of feast days
Trinidad & Tobago Yearbook, 1905
Many people also find yearbooks and directories fascinating because of the old commercial advertisements they contain. Examples of these can be seen on some of the images at the bottom of this page
The level of detail in some yearbooks is astonishing. For example, in the 1905 yearbook for Trinidad and Tobago, pictured here, information on which vegetables are in season when, where and how large taxi stands are, and when vehicles, including bicycles, should use their lights during each month of the year is included. Times during which vehicles should be illuminated are very precise. In January, for example, lights should be on between 6:25pm and 5:50am whilst by December this has changed to 6.10pm to 5:40am.
Requests for Directories and Yearbooks should be made in the Rare Books Reading Room.
Images of other rare and/or interesting examples of items in the RCS collection of Directories and Yearbooks can be found below:
Egyptian Directory, 1927
West Indies and Caribbean Yearbook,
1958-1963
East African Manual, 1932
Q. Staff and civil lists
Staff and Civil Lists make up one of the large sets within the Royal Commonwealth Society collection and holdings cover the majority of the British Empire. Coverage is particularly strong for India, Hong Kong, Nigeria and the Gold Coast.
Though most Staff and Civil Lists cover the administration of the whole country others are specific to one field or particular type of staff. Examples of the more specific Staff Lists held in the collection are listed below:
- West African Medical staff lists
- Nigerian Railway staff lists
- Gold Coast Civil and Technical staff lists
- Gold Coast European staff lists
Railway trolley on wooden trestle bridge,
British Columbia
Staff and Civil Lists are valuable resources for conducting research into individuals. Information contained within the lists includes position held, salary scale and date of appointment. Many lists contain more detailed information including date of birth, dates of promotion, short histories of working lives, dates of retirement and amounts of pensions. Staff and Civil Lists, however, can also be used to trace administrative changes within colonies as names of ministries and departments are given.
Requests for Staff and Civil Lists should be made in the Rare Books Room.
Q. Colonial 'Blue Books'
The colonial ‘Blue Books’ originated in a request from the Commons Select Committee of Finance in 1817 for returns of offices in the colonies. A book asking for the return of statistical information was first sent to each governor in 1822 and similar returns were to be made in future as soon as possible after the close of every year. The earliest ‘Blue Books’ consist of manuscript entries upon printed forms. Later volumes are completely printed.
Contents include, among other topics:
- Taxes, duties and other sources of revenue
- Military expenditure
- Civil establishment, including names, ranks, and salaries
- Legislation, laws, and proclamations
- Population statistics, marriages, births and deaths
- Import and export statistics
- Gaols and prisons
- Meteorological observations
For a more detailed outline of information held in the Colonial Blue Books please click here
A collection of African Blue Books has been digitised by Microform Academic Publishers and made available in their British Online Archives database. The database is free to search and browse, and forms an excellent index to our physical collection of Blue Books in Cambridge University Library. See: SCOLMA news item on African Blue Books to link to the database. The University of Cambridge does not have access to the online Blue Books (access is by subscription), but we do hold the real things!
Online catalogue records for all colonial 'Blue Books' held in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection can now be found in the University Library's online catalogue, Newton (http://ul-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/), or via Library Search (http://search.lib.cam.ac.uk/).
Requests for colonial 'Blue Books' should be made in the Rare Books Reading Room.
Some of the more interesting finds from the RCS collection of 'Blue Books' can be found below:
Water-colour illustrations of plants found in the Gold Coast Blue Book, 1858
Dar Es Salaam Water Aerodrome
Tanganyika Blue Book, 1938
Corradino Prison, Malta
Malta Blue Book, 1875
Q. "Other government reports"
The term ‘Other government reports’ covers three broad ‘categories’ of material all of which are published locally within the colonies. These are:
Material covering the administration of the entire colony/region including:
Student, Higher College at Yaba, Nigeria
- Legislative Council Proceedings
- Sessional papers
- Annual reports
- Administrative reports
- Annual departmental reports (published together in one volume)
Individual departmental reports
- Reports, usually annual, of the work and administration of individual government departments/organisations, including, to name but a few:
Public Works Department workshop, Uganda
- Agriculture
- Education
- Housing
- Public Works
- Railways
- Action Committee Against Narcotics (Hong Kong)
Public Works Department workshop, Uganda
‘Special reports’
- One-off reports, investigations or publications about a wide-range of subjects, relating to or affecting the administration of the colony, including, to name but a few:
New town of Takalafiya, Nigeria
The Project has covered material in each of the three categories for the geographic regions of Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, the West Indies and large parts of Africa. Coverage of further geographic regions will depend on future funding.
Overlap exists between the ‘categories’. Indeed it is important to note that early departmental reports are published within volumes covering the administration of the entire colony/region. As a consequence many users may find material from all three ‘categories’ useful for their research.
Holdings, particularly of individual departmental reports, vary from country to country and from department to department.
Requests for these government reports should be made in the Rare Books Reading Room.
Q. Collections Catalogued
Staff and Civil Lists
These have all been catalogued online.
Colonial Blue Books
Holdings of all colonial 'Blue Books' held in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection can now be found online.
Other Government Reports
Holdings of all reports published in Malaysia, China, Hong Kong, Chinese Treaty Ports, Korea (Chosen), Egypt, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Gambia, Ghana (Gold Coast), Uganda, Kenya, East Africa, Tanzania (Tanganyika), Zanzibar and South Africa are now online. In addition, so are those published in the West Indies, including Bermuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Jamaica, Turks and Caicos Islands, Leeward Islands, Antigua, St Christopher, Kitts, Nevis and Anguilla, Dominica, Montserrat, British Virgin Islands, Trinidad, Tobago, Windward Islands, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia, Belize, British Guiana, and also those published in the Falkland Islands.
Directories and Yearbooks
Holdings of all directories and yearbooks held in the Royal Commonwealth Society collection can now be found online.