Basics on the Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP)

The AJCP began in 1945 as an agreement between the National Library of Australia (NLA) and the State Library of NSW, to copy material relating to Australia and the Pacific held in repositories in the United Kingdom. Filming began in 1948, concentrated on material in the Public Record Office (PRO) (now The National Archives) for the first ten years and then moved to include material from the British Library, the National Libraries of Ireland, Scotland and Wales, university libraries, museums, learned societies, business archives, county and city record offices, missionary societies and private homes.

From 1988 the project was under the sole direction of the National Library, supported by the State Library of Victoria, the National Library of New Zealand, the National Archives of New Zealand and several university libraries. The original records involved dated from 1560 to 1984.

The microfilm

Over 10,000 reels were filmed over the life of the project, the last reel being received in 1997. The reels are divided into two series:

• the PRO Series is organised by the department or agency of the British Government that created and assembled the records, such as the Colonial Office, Home Office, Treasury or Admiralty.
• the Miscellaneous (M) Series reels are grouped under either:
• the person or body that created the records, such as Sir Joseph Banks or the London Missionary Society; or
• the repository that currently holds the records, such as the British Library, National Library of Ireland, or Buckinghamshire Record Office.

AJCP Handbooks

The films of the AJCP are catalogued within ten handbooks, held within SAG's collection. Parts 2-7 and 9-10 describe the PRO series. Part 8 provides a brief description of each Miscellaneous (M) Series collection. (More detailed lists of the collections filmed in the M Series are also held by SAG).

Film availability

SAG holds no AJCP films in its collections - just the handbooks. The full range of films is available at the NLA, at State libraries or by inter-library loan.