Records Management and the Decline of the English Archival Establishment, 1949–1956

Sir Hilary Jenkinson and the assistant keepers of England's Public Record Office (PRO) lost their position of international leadership in public archives management between 1949 and 1956 because of a failure to appreciate progress in modern records management pioneered in the United States. Conversely, archivists of the British Commonwealth, the Committee on Departmental Records in Britain, and some younger assistant keepers and senior executive officers in the PRO all welcomed these developments as a challenge to the established order.