British Record Research Articles

Revision of the British record of Tropidemys (Testudines,Plesiochelyidae) and recognition of its presence in the Late Jurassic of Portugal

The record of coastal marine turtles belonging to Plesiochelyidae is abundant in the Late Jurassic of Portugal. The material analyzed thus far has been attributed to two taxa: Plesiochelys and Craspedochelys. A specimen is presented here that allows extending the known diversity of Portuguese Jurassic turtles. It is attributed to Tropidemys. Although this taxon is relatively well known in the Kimmeridgian record of Switzerland and Germany, no specific allocation performed outside these countries can be, so far, confirmed. The detailed study of the poorly known British taxon “Pelobatochelys” blakii allows its specific validity to be confirmed here, being recognized as a member of Tropidemys. The revision of this species and the analysis of the new Portuguese specimen allow extending the knowledge regarding the genus Tropidemys.

THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS PROJECT UNDERTAKEN BY THE BRITISH RECORDS ASSOCIATION AND THE SOLICITOR’S REGULATORY AUTHORITY/LAW SOCIETY

Between spring 2012 and autumn 2014, the British Records Association (BRA) undertook a project with the Solicitor’s Regulatory Authority (SRA) under the aegis of the Law Society, to identify historical documents held by the SRA in its intervention archive, and arrange for their transfer to appropriate record offices. This report sets out the process, findings and outcomes of the project.

‘UPON THE ELYSIAN STREAM’ AN OXFORD COLLEGE BOAT CLUB’S ARCHIVE AND ITS OARSMEN

This article is based on a paper given to the British Records Association Annual Conference, 26 November 2015 ‘In a League of their Own: Archives of the History of British Sport and Physical Recreation’. It traces the history of inter-collegiate rowing at Oxford University through the archives of the Magdalen College Boat club.

British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 43rd Report (October 2014)

British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 43rd Report (October 2014)

British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 42nd Report (October 2013)

British Ornithologists' Union Records Committee: 42nd Report (October 2013)

Myths of the golden age: English local record offices, 1947–1962

A review of the origins and development of English local record offices in the period after World War II, based on the personal experience of the author. The paper deals with the climate of opinion, the work of relevant public bodies, such as the National Register of Archives, the British Records Association, government action and published studies. It covers the origins of records management, professional training and staffing.

Origins and Distinctions of the "World Music" and "World Beat" Designations

This article traces the origins and uses of the musical classifications "world music" and "world beat." The term "world beat" was first used by the musician and DJ Dan Del Santo in 1983 for his syncretic hybrids of American R&B, Afrobeat, and Latin popular styles. In contrast, the term "world music" was coined independently by at least three different groups: European jazz critics (ca. 1963), American ethnomusicologists (1965), and British record companies (1987). Applications range from the musical fusions between jazz and non-Western musics to a marketing category used to sell almost any music outside the Western mainstream.

RECORDS AT RISK

In 2010 the British Records Association commissioned a major survey of risks to historical records in two English regions, the East of England and London. We believe that the interest of the report goes beyond the two regions surveyed and we hope that its findings will seem more generally relevant and useful. What follows is a summary of findings. The full report, including analytical appendices containing extensive supporting evidence, may be found on the BRA website at www.britishrecordsassociation.org.uk

The first British record of Actinidia faveolata C.Reid and E.M.Reid (Actinidiaceae family)

Archaeological artefact-bearing Pleistocene fluvial sediments, which form part of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation, below the modern beach just south-east of Happisburgh, Norfolk, UK (Happisburgh Site 1), yielded a diverse plant macrofossil assemblage that included a seed fragment of Actinidia faveolata C.Reid and E.M.Reid – an extinct relative of the modern Kiwi fruit (Actinidia deliciosa (A.Chev.) C.F.Liang and A.R.Ferguson, Actinidiaceae family). This is the first record of this taxon in the British Isles. Previously, this extinct species has been found in Upper Oligocene sediments from West Siberia and from Miocene, Pliocene and Early Pleistocene sediments in Europe. The stratigraphical and palaeoenvironmental setting of this find is briefly considered followed by a detailed description of the fossil with a comparison of specimens from the type area. The archaeological and biostratigraphical implications of this record are also discussed.

Pratique clinique en consultation de neurologie libérale

There are now a growing number of sites with a range of proxies that enable a reconstruction of the human habitats of Early and Middle Pleistocene sites in northern Europe. This paper reviews the British record from these periods and concludes that humans were able to survive in a range of climatic and vegetational zones from the earliest occupation in the Early and early Middle Pleistocene. The likely source areas for colonising populations in southern Europe and the probable habitats to which they were adapted in these source areas is discussed. It is argued that colonising populations would need new strategies to cope successfully with northern latitudes, with technological innovations, such as clothing, shelter and possibly fire, being more likely than seasonal migration or physical adaptation. Finally, it is suggested that the earliest evidence prior to 500 ka reflects pioneering populations, perhaps of Homo antecessor, with only sporadic occupation of northern Europe. However, by 500 ka new technologies and other adaptive strategies enabled Homo heidelbergensis to have a more sustained occupation in northern latitudes.

A Liberal Democratic State and COIN: The Case of Britain, or Why Atrocities Can Still Happen

The British experience of insurgency and counterinsurgency (COIN) probably is the most prolific in all modern history. What General Sir Rupert Smith has called ‘wars among the people’ have been endemic for several centuries and it is wrong to describe them as a ‘new’ form of warfare for the 21st century. The accepted wisdom is that the British developed a doctrine and techniques based upon ‘hearts and minds’ and ‘minimum force’ so as to bring about a positive conclusion to insurgency – in short, a better political and economic peace. The British record is, overall, one to be proud of, and the principle of ‘courageous restraint’ rarely emulated in other COINs such as at the hands of the French in Algiers, the Americans in Vietnam or the Russians in Afghanistan. Yet, there were occasions when these high standards of discipline and leadership were found wanting and in all 14 or so British campaigns, from time to time either politicians, soldiers or police disregarded the common law basis for action, with terrible human consequences. This article attempts to analyse these circumstances from a historical vantage, so as to infer the reason why such incidents took place: a matter of policy, flawed leadership or simply indiscipline? The political consequences of atrocity usually were out of all proportion to the actual incident, whether after Amritsar in 1919 (the loss of India) or Bloody Sunday in 1972 (a sustained terrorist campaign over 30 and more years). The article concludes that ethical leadership is at the very heart of COIN, yet this too often is overlooked.

The environmental contexts of early human occupation of northwest Europe: The British Lower Palaeolithic record

There are now a growing number of sites with a range of proxies that enable a reconstruction of the human habitats of Early and Middle Pleistocene sites in northern Europe. This paper reviews the British record from these periods and concludes that humans were able to survive in a range of climatic and vegetational zones from the earliest occupation in the Early and early Middle Pleistocene. The likely source areas for colonising populations in southern Europe and the probable habitats to which they were adapted in these source areas is discussed. It is argued that colonising populations would need new strategies to cope successfully with northern latitudes, with technological innovations, such as clothing, shelter and possibly fire, being more likely than seasonal migration or physical adaptation. Finally, it is suggested that the earliest evidence prior to 500 ka reflects pioneering populations, perhaps of Homo antecessor, with only sporadic occupation of northern Europe. However, by 500 ka new technologies and other adaptive strategies enabled Homo heidelbergensis to have a more sustained occupation in northern latitudes.

The Crystallisation of a Complex Territorial Dispute: Britain and the Saudi-Abu Dhabi Borderland, 1966–71

From a close reading of the relevant British archival record, this article demonstrates how the basic future shape of the Saudi–United Arab Emirates borderlands emerged over a critical half-decade through a series of negotiations, consultations, and altercations that were anything but concerted. The unhelpful overall context in which the dispute had to both crystallise and then be accommodated was provided by Britain and Saudi Arabia's diplomatic estrangement at the beginning of the half-decade in question and was then further complicated by the announcement on 9 January 1968 that the regional Pax Britannica would come to an end within four years. It will show how a wider pragmatic concern of tidily capturing hydrocarbon reserves on land and sea within defined national territories began to prevail over any determination to sustain traditional, localised historical claims that were often non-linear and illogical in European sovereignty terms. Yet the “messiness of the local” would return at the turn of the 1970s to threaten the basic territorial trade-off (Buraimi/al-Ain for Khor al-Udaid) that Britain and Saudi Arabia seemed willing to contemplate. This would be the Abu Dhabi Petroleum Company's major oil find at Zarrara in the Batin region at the turn of the 1970s. No deal was done over the border before 1971 but a hugely complicated territorial equation had now crystallised that would not prove capable of easy territorial resolution in the years and decades that have followed, notwithstanding the conclusion of a boundary agreement between Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in the summer of 1974.

The British Late Middle Palaeolithic: An Interpretative Synthesis of Neanderthal Occupation at the Northwestern Edge of the Pleistocene World

The British Middle Palaeolithic is divided into two discrete periods of occupation: the Early Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 9–7, ~330–180 ka BP) and the Late Middle Palaeolithic (MIS 3, ~59–36 ka BP), separated by a long hiatus. Owing to the relative poverty of the record and historical difficulties in dating and correlating archaeological sites, the British Late Middle Palaeolithic has, until recently, received scant attention, and has largely been regarded as the poor man of Europe, especially by British archaeologists. Indeed, there has been more discussion of the absence of humans from Britain than of what they did when they were present. We aim here to redress that situation. Following from recent considerations of the Early Middle Palaeolithic (White et al. in J. Quat. Sci. 21:525–542, 2006; Scott, Becoming Neanderthal, Oxbow, Oxford, 2010), we offer an interpretative synthesis of the British Late Middle Palaeolithic, situating ‘British’ Neanderthals in their chronological, environmental and landscape contexts. We discuss the character of the British record, and offer an account of Neanderthal behaviour, settlement systems and technological practices at the northwestern edge of their known Upper Pleistocene range. We also examine the relationship of the enigmatic Early Upper Palaeolithic leafpoint assemblages to Neanderthals.

THE MAURICE BOND LECTURE 2010 THE CHANGING FASHIONS AND FORTUNES OF PHILANTHROPY

This paper was delivered as the Bond Lecture at the annual conference of the British Records Association, which met on 7 December 2010 on the subject: ‘The Philanthropic Files: records of charities and their uses’. The talk sought to throw some light on the shifting fortunes of philanthropy over the last two centuries, with asides about charitable records based on the author’s archival researches over many years. Among the paper’s themes were the changing relationship of philanthropy to the state, the rich tradition of working-class charity, and the democratic nature of voluntary activity. It concluded with some reflections on the present state of charity, and its meaning for British records, in an era of cross-party support for welfare pluralism and government partnerships.

Preserving the Legal Past: the Work of the British Records Association

AbstractThis article by Dr Anthony Smith describes how the British Records Association can help legal information professionals and the legal profession generally to conserve old legal records of both law firms themselves and of their clients. He also describes the activities and publications of the Association.

“A New Pleasure”: Listening to National Gramophonic Society Records, 1924–1931

This paper draws on research into the National Gramophonic Society (N.G.S.), a British record label of the 1920s which specialized in chamber music. Existing accounts of the early development of the record industry concentrate on the production and marketing of recordings; they also address the reception of recordings but on very broad scales, chiefly in the field of popular music, and mainly through the writings of prominent critics. Early consumers of recorded music have received less attention, yet their testimonies tell us much about the crucial developments of the 1920s, when innovative technology and marketing persuaded many lovers of “classical” music to accept the gramophone. Because it operated by subscription, the N.G.S. can be used, in the manner of a historical microscope, to focus on individual listeners during this period and study their backgrounds, motivations, tastes and habits. Some transferred to the gramophone existing practices from music, literature and other cultural spheres; for others, records offered engagement with and appreciation of types of music which had previously been inaccessible.

Raising Money Raises Questions

Although archives have frequently been associated with treasure troves or viewed as stores of cultural gems, those responsible for maintaining know that their operation and care can cost as much as a king's ransom. Funding archival work has perennially been a difficult issue to address. Recessions exacerbate financial problems, and, as current economic downturn has shown, bring budgetary concerns to forefront. During tough times archives and other cultural institutions have turned to their own collections, deaccessioning and selling valuable items to cover operating costs; such moves, however, often raise public ire and generate negative publicity for institution. Some archives have chosen instead to follow in footsteps of museums and raise funds by mining their holdings for materials that they can license, particularly those dealing in forms of media based on repackaging of existing content (Loe, 2004, p. 58). Although not as controversial as deaccessioning, archives must still contend with a multitude of legal and ethical issues when using items in their collections to generate revenue.Charging Fees or Generating RevenueAs with other predominantly cultural institutions like libraries and museums, archives have traditionally been viewed as nonprofit organizations intended to serve greater good of society and scholarship. Their willingness to share information they hold supported an intellectual barter system in which scholars could use archival materials in their works in return for acknowledging source and depositing a copy of final product. Permissions fees were usually charged only when materials were used in commercial or profit-seeking ventures. Changes in program funding, however, made it necessary for institutions to develop other ways of supporting their normal activities (Browar, Henderson, North, & Wenger, 2002, pp. 124-25). The introduction of fees for services like copying served a double purpose, helping both to recoup cost of such activities and to moderate requests that could be potentially damaging to materials (Blais, 1995, p. 50). Advances in digital media also spurred archives to think of their holdings as potential sources of revenue. Through Corbis Corporation, Bill Gates illustrates how profitable fine art and archival images could be when they digitized and actively marketed (Butler, 1998, p. 65); greater numbers of requests on part of documentary filmmakers and others drawing upon past for their creative works demonstrated that the growing global demand for media content has also increased perceived value of iconic cultural assets like those lining many institutions' shelves (Ivey, 2008, p. 33). Realizing potential of their holdings as well as possibility that commercial companies could exploit their materials if they do not, many archives have decided to implement their own generation programs.Some distinction must be made, however, between types of fees archives generally charge. Gabrielle Blais notes that Canadian National Archives follows government in distinguishing between charging user fees tailored toward the recovery of a fair share of cost of providing goods and services from those who receive a direct benefit from them and implementing new activities which could be undertaken ... with intention of generating revenue and that are not undertaken strictly because of their archival nature (Blais, 1995, p. 50). Simon Fowler elaborates on latter in his essay on funding projects in British record offices:Income generation by archives might be defined as those activities organized by archival staff with aim of raising for benefit of record office.... What unites these ventures is that they more efficiently exploit resources present already, such as staff knowledge or records themselves. Revenue raising activities increasingly provide services which might not exist otherwise (Fowler, 1993, p. …

Middle Pleistocene biota of the early Anglian ‘Arctic Fresh-water Bed’ at Ostend, Norfolk, UK

At three sites along the North Norfolk coast, freshwater sediments containing arctic plants have been reported to occur immediately beneath the glacial deposits. The sections at Mundesley and Beeston are no longer visible but a small exposure of this ‘Arctic Fresh-water Bed’ has recently been rediscovered at Ostend near Bacton. The fossils from this deposit are distinctly high boreal/arctic in character, indicating a small, possibly ephemeral, pool in a generally open landscape supporting some dwarf shrubs and conifers. Noteworthy records include three beetle species (Pterostichus brevicornis, P. middendorffi and Helophorus obscurellus) that today have their closest occurrences on either the Kanin or Kola peninsulas in arctic Russia. A Mutual Climatic Range reconstruction on the limited beetle fauna suggests that the mean temperatures of the warmest and coldest months were between 9°C and 11°C and between −36°C and −10°C, respectively. Other noteworthy occurrences include the aquatic pulmonate gastropod Gyraulus rossmaessleri (second and earliest British record), the ostracod Amplocypris tonnensis (earliest British record), ground squirrel (Spermophilus sp.) and the first record of arctic lemming (Dicrostonyx sp.) from the Cromer Forest-bed Formation (CF-bF). The ‘Arctic Fresh-water Bed’ has been assigned to the Bacton Member of the CF-bF and formed during the early Anglian, correlated with Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12 of the deep sea record. The Ostend assemblage is therefore important in providing a glimpse of conditions that occurred during a major cold stage in the early Middle Pleistocene.

Research Note: Breaking into the Popular Record Industry

■ This study focuses on the career entry and development of professional musicians in the Netherlands. Ten artist and repertoire (A&R) managers, key decision-makers in the selection process at the input side of the record industry, were interviewed to investigate the essential characteristics a musician requires to become a successful professional. In addition, the practices and criteria applied in the A&R manager's selection process were discussed. Based on these interviews, a number of background, personality and contextual factors influencing career success were identified. The musician's social environment should be supportive but critical, while likeability, perfectionism, motivation, insecurity and self-criticism were said to be key personality traits to become successful. For A&R managers, the most important source for finding out about new talent is their professional network. The main criteria for selection are the musician's skills, quality of their music and live performance, and the perceived possibility to sell their music and attract media exposure. The study's findings are consistent with earlier research on the American and British record industry practices, indicating that such practices in the record industry are persistent over time, and that they are similar in other, smaller European music markets.