Compilation of a calendar for the collection entitled The Personal Papers of Edward, Third Lord Suffield, held in Norfolk Record Office

The core aim of this dissertation has been the provision of a calendar for the collection - The personal papers of Edward, third Lord Suffield. A calendar is the most in-depth and time-consuming type of finding aid, and correspondingly allows for more efficient exploition of the subject-content of archives such as this. The calendar, together with an introduction, makes up Chapter Five. Chapter One reviews Norfolk Record Office within local county and national contexts, with reference to its history, development, administration, evolving aims and functions, and its response to the disorientation occasioned by the fire. Chapter Two provides the methodological context both for the set task and for discussion in Chapter Three. The unique nature of archival control is discussed, and the working of an integrated finding aid system, the instrument designed to achieve this, is explored and illustrated with reference to actual examples. Such control is based on meaningful arrangement and description of an archive, and this is examined within the framework of a British attempt at a standard, A manual of archival description [2nd edition 1. Chapter Three sets the collection calendared within its own specific context, i.e. as a sub-group of a landed estate collection. The idiosyncratic archival nature of estate and family records/archives is explored, and problems raised in the archival treatment both of personal papers generally, and of the collection calendared in particular, are examined. Challenges and difficulties that arose during the calendaring process are discussed in some detail with reference to examples taken from the calendar. Finally, local and national dissemination possibilities are briefly surveyed. Chapter Four follows recommended archival procedure and examples studied in providing background information on Lord Suffield, the collection's originator; this enhances the effectiveness of the calendar. Significant activities in which he became involved or chose to involve himself are indicated; many have direct bearing on documents generated. His succession to the title is set within a brief overview both of his ancestors and more immediate forebears, and also of Gunton Hall and Estate. Other than the biography written soon his death, this account has been based mainly on secondary sources. Much potentially valuable material was burnt or rendered inaccessible due to the destruction of Norwich Central Library. His life yet awaits a modern analysis.