EMPIRE AND COMMONWEALTH
Archives of the Royal Commonwealth Society from Cambridge University Library

Part 2: Imperial and Commonwealth Conferences, 1887-1955

"The Royal Commonwealth Society truly takes the world as its oyster. The startling scale and chronological complexity of the British Empire from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries ensures that such a great collection as this offers a major route into global studies."
Professor John M Mackenzie
Department of History, University of Lancaster
writing in Cambridge University Library: The Great Collections edited by Peter Fox (CUP, 1998)

Part 2 covers Imperial and Commonwealth Conferences, 1887-1955. It brings together three types of material from the RCS Collection:

- Minutes of Proceedings, Reports and Papers of Conference
- Articles and periodical literature concerning the conferences
- Rare printed works providing a critical history of the Imperial and Commonwealth Conferences
By way of further background information we also include rare printed materials on:
- Suggestions for Colonial Reform
- the campaign for closer union and Imperial Federation
- views of colonists on these colonial questions
The rare printed works and periodicals include:
- McCallum, J A, An Australian looks at the Empire, 1938
- Haskell, A L, The Dominions - partnership or rift? The danger stated, and the answer, 1943
- Historic meeting of Commonwealth statesmen in London, June 1953, immediately following the coronation of Elizabeth II
- J S Little, A World empire: being an essay upon Imperial Federation, 1879
- Lord Thring, Suggestions for Colonial reform, 1865
- G Drage, The Colonial Conference: a plea for one practical result, April 1907
- Viscount Milner, Some reflections on the coming Conference, April 1907
- Richard Jebb, The Imperial Conference from within, 1912
- G Drage, The Imperial organisation of the trade, 1911
- H D Hall, The British Commonwealth of nations: a study of its past and future development, 1920
- F A McKenzie, The Imperial Conference: its problems and personalities, 1921
- D A E Veal, The Empire in consultation: from self-government to nationhood, 1921

These documents provide scholars and researchers with a central core of evidence on relations with native races, attitudes towards race and colour, cultural contacts, the response of indigenous populations, the process of imperial decision-making, policy discussions and colonial reforms at the highest level.