Unit manuscript histories

Accession Number	AWM224
Collection type	Official Record
Object type	Official Record
Date made	1914-1946
Conflict	First World War, 1914-1918
Copyright	Item copyright: Copyright expired - public domain This item is in the Public Domain
Copying Provisions	Copyright restrictions apply. Only personal, non-commercial, research and study use permitted. Permission of copyright holder required for any commercial use and/or reproduction.

Description

(Extract from AWM224 series note, please see RecordSearch for further detail)

Function and provenance

Most items in this series appear to have been accumulated, in part, as a result of two military orders. Firstly, Australian Imperial Force (AIF) Order No. 758 (13 July 1917) instructed formations and units of the AIF to forward copies of their war diaries and official correspondence to the recently formed Australian War Records Section (AWRS).

Content

Not all units took advantage of the scheme, some publishing their histories independently. There are only around thirty items in the series that do not relate to the First World War. This handful includes manuscripts relating to the Second World War, the Korean War, and some that predate the First World War. A small number of additions to the series have occurred in more recent decades, for example a later draft of a manuscript already in the series was donated by a member of the public, and added in 1993.

System of arrangement and control

The items in this series retain the original item control numbers they were issued as a manuscript series when they first came to the Memorial library. They carry the prefix MSS (the acronym for Manuscript Series), and continue from MSS01 serially, ending at MSS637.