Catalogue description General records of the Central Office of Information and its predecessor government information departments and ministries

General records of the Department of Information 1917-1918, Ministry of Information 1918, interwar government publication work, Ministry of Information 1939-1946 and Central Office of Information (COI) from 1946 relating to the provision of government publicity and public information and comprising:

• A collection of papers from various sources on First World War information and propaganda services and papers relating to the planning of the Ministry of Information, 1939-1946, INF 4
• Papers relating to the planning of the Ministry of Information, 1939-1946 and files of the Ministry, INF 1
• Ministry of Information 1939-1946 and COI publicity material, INF 2 and INF 13, together with selected photographs used in such material, INF 14 and original art work, INF 3.
• COI divisional reports to the Director General, INF 8
• COI registered files, INF 12
• COI annual service reports, INF 18
• Minutes of COI regional officers' conferences, INF 19
• Press summaries, COI Welsh Office, INF 20
• COI personal files, INF 21
• COI staff lists, INF 22
• Ministry of Information 1939-1945 and COI, minutes of Departmental Whitley Council meetings, INF 23
• Dixon Scott Collection of photographs, INF 9
• British Empire Collection of photographs, INF 10
• British Council Photographic Collection, INF 11

Reports of the Social Survey when part of the Ministry of Information, 1936-1946, are in:

Ministry of Information files relating to overseas publicity during the Second World War are in FO 930

Files of the Home Intelligence Division are in HO 262

RG 23

and RG 40

Records of COI's Festival [of Britain] Exhibition Unit are in WORK 25