NRS-17728 | Minute Books: Board of Directors, House Committee and Finance Committee [Royal Newcastle Hospital]

This very extensive series contains the minutes of the Board of Directors, House Committee and Finance Committee, and their predecessors, from 1866 to 1984, in 85 volumes. The series has been created in such a way that one volume, more often than not, contains the minutes of the Board and of one or both Committees for a given year.The extant volumes of this series contain the Minutes of the Hospital’s governing General Committee (later the General Committee of Management) from 1866 to 1892 and 1897 to 1915, and of its successor, the Board of Directors, from 1916 to 1984; of the Acting Committee from 1866 to 1875, and of its successor, the Committee of Management, from 1875 to 1903; of the Committee of Management’s effective successor, the House Committee, from 1904 to 1912, 1915 to 1938, and 1964 to 1984; of the Finance Committee from 1918 to 1921, 1948 to 1954, and 1964 to 1984; and of the Meetings of Subscribers from 1866 to 1893, after which these form a separate series. Often the Minutes of one body have continued to be entered into one volume after the contemporary Minutes of another have been moved to a new volume. Moreover, it will be evident from the gaps in the representation of some of these bodies that there are now several volumes missing from the series.From 1915 onwards the surviving volumes of this series are mostly annual volumes made up ex post facto from typed foolscap sheets. Previous volumes are of the quarter-leather-bound ledger type, with minutes entered by hand, not uncommonly accompanied by published newspaper accounts of meetings which have been clipped and pasted into the volumes. Whilst the earliest volumes in the series display marked signs of wear, and some are beginning to exhibit crumbling of the leather on their spines, the series is, on the whole, in remarkably good condition.The core of the series is, of course, the Minutes of the General Committee and Board of Directors. These are complete from 1866 until 1984, with the exception of the period between October 1892 and February 1897 – which probably represents a single missing volume. References at the beginning of the earliest surviving volume indicate, however, that still earlier minutes once existed. These do not now appear to be extant, and may have been amongst the materials acquired by local historian Dr Ben Champion in the 1930’s, the subsequent fate of which is unknown.The Minutes of the Acting Committee, and of the Committee of Management which succeeded it in 1875, are complete from 1866 until the absorbtion of the Committee of Management into the General Committee in 1903. Until the beginning of 1894 these minutes share space in the same four volumes which contain the General Committee minutes; thereafter they are kept in three successive separate volumes. The last of these volumes also contains the first Minutes of the House Committee, which was established in 1904 and effectively succeeded to the functions formerly the responsibility of the Committee of Management.The Minutes of the House Committee until 1912 occupy the remainder of this volume and two further separate volumes. Thereafter one volume appears to be missing, but from 1915 until 1938 the Minutes of House Committee appear in the same twenty-four annual volumes as do those of the Board of Directors.From 1939 until 1966 the Minutes of the Board of Directors have twenty-eight annual volumes to themselves. For most of this period House Committee minutes have not survived; when this element in the series resumes in 1964, they are sharing a volume with the Minutes of the Finance Committee. From 1967 onwards, however, all three bodies – Board, House Committee and Finance Committee – share the same eighteen annual volumes until the end of the series in 1984.The least complete element in this series is the Minutes of the Finance Committee. Prior to 1964, only eleven years’ worth of this Committee’s minutes has survived. These share the same annual volumes as the Minutes of the Board and of the House Committee from 1918 (which may have been the year of the Finance Committee’s establishment) until 1921, and a single separate volume is extant which contains Finance Committee minutes for 1948-1954. From 1964 until the end of the whole series, Finance Committee minutes have survived complete.

本馆藏系列规模庞大，涵盖1866年至1984年间董事会（Board of Directors）、内务委员会（House Committee）、财务委员会（Finance Committee）及其前身机构的会议记录，共计85卷。该系列的编排惯例为：单卷卷宗往往收录某一指定年度的董事会及一至两个委员会的会议记录。
本系列现存卷宗包含：1866年至1892年、1897年至1915年期间医院治理机构总委员会（General Committee，后更名为管理总委员会（General Committee of Management））的会议记录，以及1916年至1984年其继任机构董事会的会议记录；1866年至1875年临时委员会（Acting Committee）的会议记录，以及1875年至1903年其继任机构管理委员会（Committee of Management）的会议记录；1904年至1912年、1915年至1938年及1964年至1984年管理委员会的实际继任机构内务委员会的会议记录；1918年至1921年、1948年至1954年及1964年至1984年财务委员会的会议记录；以及1866年至1893年认购人大会（Meetings of Subscribers）的会议记录，1893年之后该类记录归入独立系列。
通常情况下，当某一机构的会议记录被移至新卷宗后，另一机构的会议记录仍会接续录入原有卷宗。此外，部分机构的记录存在缺失，说明本系列目前已遗失若干卷宗。
1915年起，本系列现存卷宗多为事后（ex post facto）根据打字大页书写纸（foolscap sheets）汇编而成的年度卷宗。此前的卷宗均为半皮装帧账册（quarter-leather-bound ledger）形制，以手写方式录入会议记录，且常附带经剪贴粘贴入卷的会议报刊报道。尽管本系列最早的卷宗已出现明显磨损，部分书脊皮革开始开裂粉化，但整体而言保存状况极佳。
本系列的核心内容无疑为总委员会及董事会的会议记录，1866年至1984年的记录基本完整，仅1892年10月至1897年2月期间缺失，该时段大概率仅遗失单卷卷宗。现存最早卷宗卷首的参考资料显示，更早的会议记录曾一度存在，但现已佚失，这批材料可能曾为当地历史学家本·钱皮恩博士（Dr Ben Champion）于1930年代收购，其后续去向不明。
临时委员会及1875年接替其职能的管理委员会的会议记录，1866年至1903年（即管理委员会并入总委员会之年）的记录完整。1894年年初前，该类记录与总委员会的会议记录共享4卷卷宗；此后则单独分为3卷。最后一卷同时收录了1904年成立、实际承接原管理委员会职能的内务委员会的首批会议记录。
1912年之前的内务委员会会议记录占据该卷剩余部分及另外两卷独立卷宗。此后似乎遗失了一卷，但1915年至1938年期间，内务委员会的会议记录与董事会的会议记录一同收录于24卷年度卷宗中。
1939年至1966年，董事会的会议记录单独占用28卷年度卷宗。此时期的大部分时段内，内务委员会的会议记录未能留存；1964年该系列恢复收录此类记录时，它们与财务委员会的会议记录共享单卷卷宗。1967年起，董事会、内务委员会及财务委员会三类会议记录共同收录于18卷年度卷宗中，直至1984年本系列终结。
本系列中完整度最低的部分为财务委员会的会议记录。1964年之前，仅留存该委员会11个年度的会议记录。1918年（或为财务委员会成立之年）至1921年期间，该类记录与董事会及内务委员会的会议记录共享年度卷宗；另有一卷单独留存的卷宗收录了1948年至1954年的财务委员会会议记录。1964年至本系列终结，财务委员会的会议记录完整留存。