The Stuart Rossiter Memorial Lecture 2000
Philatelic Research at the British Library
A Guide to some of the Untapped Reserves
by David Beech FRPSL
ONCE AGAIN, the annual Stuart Rossiter
Memorial Lecture was held at the British Library's Conference
Centre in the Euston Road, which is becoming like a well worn
glove, fitting comfortably at all times.
A well filled 'Auditorium' was brought to order by Peter Kelly,
who, on behalf of the Trust, described its aims and activities.
In the past year, three books had been published: Graham Mark's
'British Censorship of British Mails1914/19', a Handbook by the
Malta Study Circle on 'Air Mails of Malta', and the first annual
issue of the 'Rossiter Postal History Journal'. Indeed, to the
end of 2000, some 12 books had been published, six lectures given,
with a further 9 books in hand for future production. Peter also
detailed some of the research work for which grants had been furnished.
Richard Payne then took the rostrum to introduce, in his inimitable
manner, the speaker of the day, our Senior Vice-President, David
Beech. David began with a reference to the letter he had received
from Robert Johnson, the Corresponding Trustee of the Stuart Rossiter
Trust, who urged him to challenge old and comfortable ideas and
prejudices where they are out of date, then quickly moved to his
theme. He described the British Library, where he had worked since
1983, with some understatement as 'an incredible institution'
containing, truly, 'the sum of human knowledge'. He essayed a
definition of philately, dealing with its multifarious nature,
but sought, he said, a broader approach.
He dealt with what he saw research to be, and equated it to publication
(this struck a chord with your reporter, in whose past it was
made quite clear that no research was ever finished until the
topic had been reported in a publication). There were golden rules
of research - the 'modus operandi'- and at the outset one must
say 'What is the question?' ie, the subject must be defined. Far
too much research work is started prematurely without this vital
question being put! The area of research has to be defined, previous
efforts have to be uncovered, and it has to be admitted that research
takes as long as it takes, not just the time you have available.
Copying one person's work is plagiarism, copying several persons'
work is research. In all such 'survey' work it was important to
give proper citations, to signpost the efforts one has made in
the world of philatelic literature.
Of course, the British Library was not the only source of information.
Research must come first from primary sources one's own collection
or the collections of others, but in going, inevitably, beyond
that one must deal with the secondary sources, the accounts of
what have been seen, or discovered. There were many such sources,
libraries, archives, etc., and in these one must discover what
has already been done and published. Here is where the British
Library can enter the scene, with its bibliographies, library
catalogues, indexes. The Curator/Librarian/Archivist is your best
friend. Get to know him/her well. Learn the system of the Museum
or Library in which you are working.
There is help available on all hands, and one book, perhaps above
all others, can give a key to the best way of approaching one's
research tasks, viz Jim Negus' book 'Philatelic Literature: Compilation
Techniques and Reference Sources' (published by James Bendon in
1991). Its skilful use will inculcate a professional approach.
Now the British Library collections are manifold - the Philatelic
Collections alone have over 8 million items. The Library has some
30,000 volumes of philatelic literature, which is a world collection,
all subjects and periods: Western languages, books and monographs,
periodicals, auction catalogues, philatelic exhibition literature,
stamp catalogues, etc. The Library receives copies, by legal deposit,
of all works published in the British Isles, to which one must
add the unique holding of the Crawford Library, with some 4,500
volumes from 1861 to 1913. The Departmental Library of the Philatelic
Collections amounts to some 5/6,000 volumes, mainly modern, and
growing constantly - some 40 volumes per month are bound.
David went on to describe the wealth of information available
in the whole of the Library (not just the Philatelic Collections),
where there were some 12.5 million volumes, and of especial interest
to philatelists are timetables, directories, shipping information,
British proclamations (relating to the posts), postal Acts of
Parliament, Hansard – the list is almost endless. Other source
collections that might at first sight be overlooked are the National
Sound Archive (1.14 million discs, etc.), the Map Library (with
4.2 million sheet maps, 67,000 atlases, etc.). Manuscripts (0.3
million), and all this is accessible by the computer-based catalogues.
Finally he referred to the Newspaper Library (at Colindale), with
some 600,000 bound volumes and parcels, 320,000 reels of microfilm;
the Official Publications collections from the whole world occupy
43 km of shelving(!); the Oriental and India Office Collections;
and the Science Collections, with some 45 million patents (world
wide). In closing his account, he referred to the details of access
to all this information: information was available about the extent
of each department's collections; the need for a reader's pass;
the copying services; and referred to the BL Catalogue in the
Entrance Hall! The whole was a veritable tour de force and this
brief account cannot do justice to the wealth of information that
David produced.
Richard Payne closed the proceedings, thanking David profusely
for his efforts, and rewarded him with a specially bound edition
of the 'Treasury of the British Library'. The occasion was, as
always with the Rossiter Memorial Lectures, a significant moment
in the Philatelic calendar, and we can only hope that the response
will not overwhelm David and his staff!
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