Administrative records of the former Department of Computer Science. These comprise the major committee and related records created by the Department. In content, they are similar to those of other departmental archives. They are primarily files accumulated by Professor Tom Kilburn as head of the department from foundation in 1964 until his retirement in 1980. Later files have not been located as yet. The records deal with the main activities of the Department including development of the B.Sc. computing science degree, staff consultancies, the MU5 project, and relations with external bodies including the National Research Development Board, the Computer Board, and the University Grants Committee. There are also several files relating to the construction of the new Computer Building (now the Kilburn Building) which opened in 1972. The files collectively provide an interesting overview of the early development of one of the UK's largest and most important centres of academic computing.
In addition, an independent collection of documents relating to the Department forms part of the History of Computing Collection (NAHC/MUC). This collection focusses on the research work undertaken by University computer scientists since the 1940s. It includes unique and special documents relating to the development of computing machines. Inevitably, there is significant overlap between the two collections, and both would need to be consulted to gain a proper overview of the history of computing at the University. In some cases, documents in the MUC collection would be more properly located in the DCS archive. However, as they have formed part of the former collection for a long period of time, it has been decided not to reorganise the collection.