VPRS 18056 Estate Office Correspondence Index, Property Group

The index was used to facilitate the retrieval of correspondence received by the Victorian Railway's Estate Office / Property branch. Most of the correspondence recorded in the index dealt with property matters such as sales, leasing, acquisitions, rail crossings, and fencing. A small number of entries concern internal administrative and other matters.Some of the correspondence recorded in this index is still currently held by VicTrack. It is possible that some post circa 1945 correspondence may be found in VPRS 13181 (General Correspondence Files, Annual Single Number System, Estate Office/Property Group). While earlier correspondence may possibly be found in VPRS 421 (Secretary's Inward Registered Correspondence, Annual Single Number System).The information is arranged in the index alphabetically either by the sender's name and/or the location of the matter concerned. The specific layout varies between books, but generally each page is divided into at least three columns. The first column is the name of the correspondent or the location. The second column is the reference number given to the correspondence. The third column gives a brief summary of the subject matter of the correspondence.The books have been numbered sequentially, however in some cases the number is no longer visible. Where possible the number has been recorded in the series listing. The first volume in this consignment is actually labelled 'Book 3' which suggests that there were preceding volumes in this series; however if they exist their locations are unknown. In some years (1887 to 1894) the index was divided into two volumes, one for names and one for locations, but the two books were still given the same number.Sometimes the books are arranged alphabetically by name, while others are alphabetically by location. Some of the later indexes actually contain two separate listings in the same book: one by name and one by location. A piece of correspondence in these books will therefore have two entries, but on different pages. On the other hand, in some years there were two separate books created and used concurrently, one for locations and one for names.In Book 7, as it became full, the entries continued in the unused space of other letters. For example the later entries for 'C' can be found in the unused space of 'U'.The system used to number the correspondence was an annual single number sequence. A number was given to the first piece of correspondence of a matter and a file created with this number. Any further correspondence on the same matter was usually added to this file rather than given a new number.