DCH/1 consists of the 'official' records of the Department, i.e. those records that have been created by departmental staff as part of their official responsibilities for administering the Department.
In addition, material which refers to the corporate work of the Department rather than that of individual academics, researchers and students has been included in this sub-group, including printed and other material relating to the Department's history (DCH/1/2). Official promotional material such as prospectuses is to be found in DCH/1/4.
Many of the records relate to the administration of students taking chemistry courses, including registers of students, report and examination mark books (DCH/1/2). These form the main body of 'official' records. Relatively few routine files relating to matters of departmental administration have survived (DCH/1/8).There is a small amount of material concerning the opening of departmental buildings (DCH/1/5) and other social events (DCH/1/8). The Department's substantial archive of photographs is also included in DCH/1/6 (although some of this was probably accumulated in a semi-official capacity by staff members).
DCH/1/10 comprises an incomplete set of departmental board meetings, 1971-2003, which are an important source of information on departmental administration. Also present are minutes of the departmental library committee, work and attendance committee, management committee and the ISLT.