ENDORSEMENTS

Over the past decade a variety of institutions and individuals have expressed their own opinion of the Benn Archive. Some of these endorsements and opinions appear below.

"… I very much hope you will make your unique historic archive available for posterity ... where it can be conserved and made accessible to all those wishing to study the life and times of the period you have so vividly described"

 

The Prime Minister
The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair MP PC
10 Downing Street
London SW1

…. It is in my opinion one of the great political archives of the twentieth century, and I include international archives in this comparison…..

….knowing the Peel Papers and the Gladstone papers at the British Library, I can say with conviction that the Benn Archive will exceed what these great resources offer."

Alice Prochaska
University Librarian
Yale University

"…. The value of your impressive collection of papers to both present and future historians is enormous….

….I wish you every success in your bid for support in preserving what must be one of the most important collections of the century."

Mark Fisher
Former Under Secretary of State
Department of National Heritage

"…. The historical value of the collection...is quite clear. It’s comprehensiveness and continuity are marked and probably unparalleled in collections of this nature."

Public Record Office
Kew, Richmond
Surrey

"…. Their continuity over a period of thirty-five years, completeness, systematic preservation and remarkable depth…..will render them a major source for historians of government.

Their preservation for posterity is clearly of great importance."

The Royal Commission on Historical Monuments
Chancery Lane
London WC2

"…. The Benn papers, in their entirety, will come to be seen as one of the most important archives of the 20th century in this country."

The British Library
Euston Road
London NW1

"...a collection of major importance, not just in political but in broader social terms.

…. The fact that it has embraced ‘multimedia’ technology right from the beginning, guarantee its position...as a stopping off point for serious researchers for decades - indeed centuries - to come."

The National Council on Archives
St. Swithins Lane
London EC4