State Papers

The State Papers are, largely, the records accumulated by Secretaries of State

State Papers Online (1509-1714) combines State Papers Domestic and Foreign with the Registers of the Privy Council and State Papers in the British Library, reproducing the original historical manuscripts in facsimile and linking each manuscript to its corresponding fully-searchable Calendar entry.
--Part I: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Domestic
--Part II: The Tudors, 1509-1603: State Papers Foreign, Scotland, Borders, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council
--Part III: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Domestic
--Part IV: The Stuarts and Commonwealth, James I - Anne I, 1603-1714: State Papers Foreign, Ireland and Registers of the Privy Council. Not as yet available

 

This resource includes page images of the original manuscripts linked to searchable calendars. Calendars are lists of the papers with brief item-level descriptions.

The calendars are also available via British History Online (Browse by Subject: Administrative and legal history)

Unpublished state papers of the English Civil War and Interregnum. 5 parts in 114 reels
Microforms (Lamont) Film A 166 [Vol. 1 lacks number.]
Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Film A 166.1 (Printed guide)

1a: Papers of the Committee for the Sequestration of Delinquents' Estate
1b: Papers of the Committee for Plundered Ministers
1c: Papers of the Committee and Commissioners for Indemnity
1d: Papers of Various Committees, etc.
2: Parliamentary Surveys
3a: Certificates as to the Sale of Crown Lands.
3b: Particulars for the Sale of the Estates of Charles I
4: Particulars for the sale of Fee-Farm Rents etc.
5: Documents relating to various Parliamentary Accounts and to Eccelesiastical Affairs

Sixteenth and seventeenth century newsletters and related papers. 18 reels.
Location : Microforms (Lamont) Film A 1183
Location : Microforms (Lamont) INDEX Film A 1183 = guide
--Incomplete contents : pt. 1. Newsletters, c.1564-1667, and related papers c.1607-1794, from the Public Record Office.
--Collection of newsletters from the State Papers Foreign and Chancery collections at the PRO. They provide an English perspective of events in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The majority of the material consists of letters either from or to the first Viscount Scudamore who was Charles I’s ambassador in Paris from 1635 to 1639.
HOLLIS Number : 009057925

Colonial State Papers Colonial State Papers provides access to documents related to English activities in North America and the West Indies from the late sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. There is a digitized version of Calendar of State Papers, Colonial: North America and the West Indies 1574-1739 which provides the extensive Calendar entries in searchable text form. There are color image files for the CO 1 class of documents.

State Papers Online: Eighteenth Century, 1714-1782  The fifth installment of the State Papers Online digital archive, State Papers Online, Eighteenth Century 1714-1782, Part 1: State Papers Domestic, Military, Naval and Reigsters of the Privy Council, offers historians online access to approx. 300,000 rare British government manuscripts from the reigns of King George I, King George II and part of the reign of King George III plus Military, Naval, Plantation Registers, Sheriffs Lists and State Papers Scotland and Ireland. Key themes covered by the collection will be the establishment of the British Empire as a dominant Colonial power, the development of agriculture and industrialization, and European Enlightenment.

Foreign and Colonial Offices

The Confidential Print series originated in the need for the British Government to preserve all of the most important papers generated by the Foreign and Colonial Offices. Some of these were one page letters or telegrams – others were large volumes or texts of treaties. All items marked ‘Confidential Print’ were printed and circulated immediately to leading officials in the Foreign Office, to the Cabinet, and to Heads of British missions abroad.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Colonial Office Confidential Print online catalogue indexes over 1000 documents from 1848 to 1915 pertaining to Africa.

 

Although not a governmental organization the Royal Commonwealth Society Library includes many records of colonial governments:

Empire and commonwealth: archives of the Royal Commonwealth Society from Cambridge University Library. 2 pts on <43 > microfilm reels
Pt. 1: The colour question in imperial policy, 1830-1939 (reel 1-25), includes materials concerning relations with native races, issues of race and empire, initial cultural contacts and race and cultural interchange.
--pt. 1 Online Guide
Pt. 2: Imperial & commonwealth conferences, 1835-1955 (reel 26-43), and materials on colonial reform.
--pt. 2 Online Guide
Microforms (Lamont)  Film A 1281