[UMA-SRE-20120026] NEW SOUTH WALES LETTER BOOKS, CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES

Description

IdentifierUMA-SRE-20120026Extent85 boxesLinear Meterage14.67Scope and ContentThis series of bound volumes contains copies of non confidential letters between the Association's Head Office and its New South Wales Branch.
Subjects covered include the establishment of the Branch, investments, funds, income tax, building societies, Branch returns, accounts returns, staff, freehold property, home purchase loans, loans on mortgage, loan on reversionary interest and loan on life interest, land tax, fire insurance, actuarial matters, group assurance schemes, underwriting special enquiries, proposals, war risks, annual meetings and miscellaneous subjects difficult to categorize. Until 1st January 1939 the volumes also included copies of letters on such routine matters as acknowledgements of memoranda, advice of the despatch of returns and other routine documents to Head Office and other matters of a similar nature. The difference between letters and routine memoranda was implemented in all branches with the exception of the England, South Africa and Ceylon Branches which continued the previous practice for some time.
There are various systems of arrangement discernible within the series. Initially until 1914, letters 'to' and 'from' Head Office were held in separate sequences and a volume might contain correspondence covering a period greater than a year. From 1914 the practices of having more than one year's correspondence in a volume and having separate sequences of inwards and outwards letters were discontinued. From 1914 until 1939 the inwards and outwards letters were held in yearly volumes, one for inwards and one for outwards, and placed next to each other; these volumes were differentiate by an 'I' for inwards and 'O' for outwards on the spine.
In 1939 the deletion of memo type material from the correspondence in the volumes, which was described above, took place. Concurrent with this change letters in the volumes were grouped by the subjects with which they dealt. This practice meant that inwards and outwards letters on the same subject were interfiled. At the start of each volume two indexes were constructed, one for inwards and the other for outwards. These indexes gave details of letter number, subject and file number. The file number referred to a number either written or stamped on the top right hand corner of an item of correspondence. The contents of the volume were then arranged in the file number order. Thus, letter L39/1 to a Branch would not necessarily be the first folio in, the volume but may appear at, say, file 137. This may be followed by several letters to and from the Branch on the subject each of which belongs to the same file. This system continued until 1956 when inwards and outwards letters were again filed chronologically and the subject grouping abandoned. From 1961, 'Inwards' and 'Outwards' were again placed in separate volumes.
There is some top numbering in the first volume of outwards letters. Two numbers written in blue pencil and separated by a stroke often appear towards the top right hand corner of the page, thus: 6/10. The number above the line refers to the page number of earlier correspondence on the subject of a letter and the number below the line to the page number of later correspondence. This was a standard 19th and early 20th century practice for linking correspondence on the same subject.Collection CategoryBusinessAccess StatusOpen for public accessRequest Access to RecordsRequest records from this Series

Provenance

CreatorNational Mutual Life Association of Australasia

Dates

Date1879-1973

Description Control

Previous System ID2012.0026Other IDsOriginal control number NMLS 2.Descriptive NoteYes listed ONLINE

Relationships

Accession[2013.0006] Records of the National Mutual Life Association of Australasia

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[UMA-SRE-20120026] NEW SOUTH WALES LETTER BOOKS, CHRONOLOGICAL SERIES