Operational Research Club/Operational Research Society

The archive contains the minutes of the Operational Research Club and Society, 1953-1979; its annual accounts and reports, 1958-1976; subscription books, 1961-1974; correspondence files relating to various aspects of the Society and its administration, 1957-1987; a range of publications produced by the Society, 1950-1995, and others in the same field, 1961-1994; volumes of press-cuttings, 1961-1974; and photographs of Society members and events, 1997-2000.

The Operational Research Club was founded in April 1948 and its main activities were to hold scientific meetings and, from 1950, produce a quarterly journal. The Club was succeeded in 1954 by the Operational Research Society. The Society established its own offices in London in 1959, and was incorporated on 30 June 1960. The ORS was a scientific body which did not engage in project work, unlike the Institute for Operational Research (IOR) which was established in 1962 within the framework of the Tavistock Institute of Human Relations (TIHR). The ORS had representation on the TIHR Council. The Society continued to publish Operational Research Quarterly,which in 1978 assumed the title 'Journal of the Operational Research Society' and comprised twelve annual issues. In 1973, the Society moved its headquarters to Birmingham.

Reference: P. Rivett and R.L. Ackoff, A Manager's Guide to Operational Research (London, 1963); www.orsoc.orh.uk

With the exception of unpublished material that is less than 20 years old, this collection is available to researchers by appointment at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. See http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/using/

The archive was deposited with the Modern Records Centre by the Operational Research Society between February and December 1994. An additional deposit of minutes and papers relating to the Society's Council and various committees, c. 1963-1987, was made in January 2000. This later accrual is unlisted. A further box of papers re conferences of 1987-1988 was deposited in 2013.

Link to full catalogue: http://mrc-catalogue.warwick.ac.uk/records/ORS

There are no restrictions on the use of this archive, apart from the requirements of copyright law.<

This collection has been weeded for duplicates.

Further deposits are expected.

The Centre holds the following other collections relating to the history, development and practice of operational research and to pioneers and practitioners in this field (collectively known as the Operational Research Archive): British European Airways: Operational Research Branch (MSS.335/AI/1); British Overseas Airways Corporation: Operational Research Branch (MSS.335/AI/2); British Steel Operational Research papers and Memoranda (MSS.335/BS); the Papers of Professor Stephen Cook (MSS.335/CK); the Community Operational Research Unit (MSS.335/COR); the East Midlands Operational Research Group (MSS.335/EMORG); Papers of the Fellowship for Operational Research (MSS.335/FOR); papers for British Gas Operational Research (MSS.335/GA); British Gas North West Operational Research Reports (MSS.335/GA/NW); GKN Operational Research Reports (MSS.335/GKN); Fellowship for Operational Research (MSS.335/FOR); International Federation of Operational Research Societies (MSS.335/IFORS); Interviews with Operational Research Pioneers and Related Papers (MSS.335/INT); the Institute for Operational Research (MSS.335/IOR); the Local Government Operational Research Unit (MSS.335/LG); Miscellaneous and Fragmentary Operational Research Papers (MSS.335/MIS); Operational Analysis Branch, NATO (MSS.335/OAB); Draft Obituaries of Operational Research Practitioners (MSS.335/OBIT); the Papers of Jack Plymen (MSS.335/PLY); the Papers of Professor K. Brian Haley relating to Operational Research Quarterly (MSS.335/SO/H); the Papers of Rolphe C. Tomlinson (MSS.335/TOM); and the Papers of Dr Edward D. van Rest (MSS.335/VR).