The collection comprises in its entirety minute books of the meetings of various bodies of the Oxford Conservative and Unionist Association, forming an almost complete record of the Association's activities during the greater part of the twentieth century. A record of minutes of the University Conservative Association (OUCA) is also included: this undergraduate Society being treated as on a par with the Young Conservatives' Association administered as part of the OCA.
The Association appears to have been concerned with the administration of Central Office concerns at the local level, in addition to providing a forum for the debate of various contemporary issues, and a base around which various social and fund-raising events were organised. The precise date of foundation of the OCA is uncertain, although it is known that members of the Association dined together regularly in 1840. A related, but independently administered body, is that of the Oxford Conservative Club, established in 1869; some records of which are also held by Oxfordshire Record Office.
The records were deposited during December, 1996, as Accession 4185; and catalogued by Kirstie Jackson, May 1998.