Catalogue description General Nursing Council for England and Wales and Committees: Proceedings

Notes in short or longhand, giving fuller accounts of the proceedings of the General Nursing Council and its committees than the formal minutes.

The earlier transcripts were extensive, probably because of the controversial nature of some of the early debates. Later they seem to have been confined to particular debates where the registrar might be asked to give a detailed account of the proceedings to clarify the issues discussed. There are also papers called 'proceedings' which represent an intermediate stage between the transcripts and the minutes, in that they are presented in the form of minutes but with debates reported in direct speech as in the transcripts.

As the practice of drafting minutes became formalised copies of draft minutes are to be found with the transcripts of shorthand notes and eventually superseded them. The date at which transcripts ceased varied with individual committees but none have been found after 1948. Where the series continued in the form of draft minutes only they have been destroyed as they did not contain any information not otherwise to be found in the signed minutes.

The series provides valuable information about members' opinions which is not to be found in the signed minutes. It is particularly important as a supplement to the minutes of the council 1926-1947 for which only the printed version and microfilm copies have survived. There are also details of some ad-hoc committees of 1948 and of the House Committee 1945-1947 for which no signed minutes are available. In addition, details of committee work are provided in the form of discussions between the chairman, Dame Ellen Musson, and the registrar, Miss G E Davies, to process the business of standing committees when the committees were suspended between October 1939 and February 1948.