Evidence for Industrial Working Parties

DCA/17 documents the Council"s contribution to the Board of Trade Working Parties, over a quite specific period of time: after 1946 no further files were opened within this series. Five of the nineteen files opened in Series 17 have survived. These cover Furniture; Pottery; Boots and Shoes; Hosiery; Cotton; Carpets; Cutlery; Heavy Clothing; Lace; Linoleum; Wool; and Glass.

In the immediate post-1945 period, the British Government's Board of Trade established a series of Working Parties to improve the efficiency of different sectors of the country"s manufacturing industry. The Working Parties" remit was to examine and enquire into the various schemes and suggestions put forward for improvement of organization, production and distribution methods and processes in the [X] industry, and to report as to the steps which should be taken in the national interest to strengthen the industry and render it more stable and more capable of meeting competition in the home and foreign markets." The Working Parties made their reports over the period 1946 – 1948.

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.

Record created by Lesley Whitworth, with minor amendments by Sue Breakell, 10 August 2010.

Copies of several of the Working Parties' reports are held in the Council"s Library.

Paddy Maguire, "Designs On Reconstruction: British Business, Market Structures And The Role Of Design In Post-War Recovery", Journal of Design History, 4:1 (1991), 15-30

Moriarty, Catherine, "Anticipatory forms: Henry Moore and post-war British furniture design", in 'Figuring Space: Sculpture/Furniture from Mies to Moore', Leeds: Henry Moore Institute, ND (2007), pp.57-68.