Talks

Scope and Content

Predominately DCA/26 contains files relating to talks in a variety of formats, given by members of the Council or those associated with it, in support of high standards of design in general, and the work of the Council specifically.

Nine files are constituent parts of DCA/26/192, covering exactly this kind of material. Some files contain administrative details relating to the occasions on which talks were given, rather than the texts of the talks themselves. As well as the Council"s first three Directors (up to Paul Reilly), the speakers include Presidents of the Board of Trade. The collection of talks given by Gordon Russell is numerically dominant. There is some evidence to suggest that in its earliest incarnation DCA/26 was a series for public relations in a more general sense, including "outreach" to kindred organizations. For example, there is a file on early public relations policy, and another on the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Administrative / Biographical History

Because of the Council"s educational remit, those associated with it were regularly called upon to speak on the merits of applying high standards of design. A large number of speeches, talks, addresses, lectures and broadcasts were therefore given, to a wide variety of audiences.

Arrangement

The surviving files have been retained in their original numeric order as allocated by the Council"s Registry. This means that records in a series do not necessarily have consecutive file numbers, and may not be located together.

Archivist's Note

Record created by Lesley Whitworth, with minor amendments by Sue Breakell, August 2010.

Bibliography

Russell, Gordon, 'Designer's Trade: Autobiography of Gordon Russell', London: Allen & Unwin, 1968

Reilly, Paul, 'An Eye on Design: An Autobiography', London: Reinhardt, 1987