Police memoranda books
A form of administrative record which was fairly ubiquitous in corporate bodies from the early 19th century until the advent of modern filing in the 1920s and 1930s was a volume where documents were pasted in or otherwise inserted. Staff in police stations and offices compiled volumes of this sort in the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. These may be described a variety of ways and may be specific to certain types of documents. The term circular book (or circular letter book) is used for a volume which contains exclusively, or almost exclusively, communications sent out by the chief constable or other senior offices to all stations or personnel. Other frequently used terms are order book and memoranda book, which might contain a mixture of official and unofficial communications. The term scrap book generally refers to a volume, usually compiled by an individual, such as a chief constable, of a miscellanea, such as invitations and menus for official events, posters, newspaper cuttings, photographs, etc. In some cases, newspaper cuttings books were maintained.
It is sometimes hard to pin down the precise purpose of a particular volume of this kind. One might begin as a circular book or memoranda book, but over the years, turn into a scrapbook. Some may be confusingly titled. Among Glasgow City’s police records is a series of volumes described as ‘Chief Constable’s Minute Books’ (Glasgow City Archives, SR22/43/4), which are not minute books in the true sense, but are a combination of hand-written memos, scrap book, statistical returns etc. The series was maintained from 1877 until 1978, probably by staff in the Chief Constable’s office. The Chief Constable’s Order Books for Aberdeenshire contain (among many other things) details of constables appointed, promoted, retired and dismissed.
The content of these kind of volumes, especially scrapbooks, can be quite wide-ranging, reflecting the duties and concerns of an individual policeman. For example, scrapbooks in the City of Glasgow police records at Glasgow City Archives contain material as diverse as wanted posters, traffic arrangements for football matches and public events, plans of volunteer regiments sham battles, recruitment posters, statistical returns, second world war air-raid notices and invitations to official functions. In Highland Council Archives a Press Book for the Badenoch Division of Inverness County Constabulary (R91/D/B/9/1) 1973-77, includes press releases about mountain rescues, fatal road accidents etc. The value of such volumes is fairly obvious, that they can contain information about the operation of police forces, the public (or at least the media’s) view of the police via newspapers, official policy matters, etc. For those researching a particular chief constable, they may provide descriptions of official and unofficial events attended and other career details. For school projects they can provide useful material in the form of posters and memoranda, with those for the second world war period being especially good.