Victoria and Albert Museum

Arts Council of Great Britain: records, 1928-1997

Series description

Context

Proposals for an international exhibition to celebrate the centenary of theGreat Exhibition of 1851 were made as early as 1943, and in 1945 a committee under Lord Ramsden was appointed by the Department of Overseas Trade to consider schemes. Although the detailed recommendations of the committee were not approved, it was decided in 1947 to hold a national display illustrating the British contribution to civilisation, past, present and future, in the arts, in science and technology and in industrial design under the title ' Festival of Britain 1951'. The lord president of the Council was given responsibility for the Festival, and he appointed a Great Exhibition Centenary Committee of interested departments, to create a festival organisation, define the framework of the festival and to be responsible for liaison between government departments and the festival organisation. The latter consisted of an executive committee of officials, responsible to an honorary and advisoryCouncil of the Festival of Britain 1951 composed of persons eminent in public life and representing the main political parties. The council included the chairmen of the national committees set up for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the chairmen of the Arts Council and the Council of Industrial Design, and of two bodies specially created for the festival, theCouncil of Science and Technology and the Council for Architecture, Town Planning and Building Research.

A Festival headquarters was set up by the Treasury in March 1948 and with an exhibition unit formed by the Central Office of Informationformed the nucleus of the Festival of Britain Office, which existed as a separate department from April 1949 to March 1953. It had its own vote which covered most of the festival expenditure, but the Ministry of Transport bore the cost of rail and road works and other transport services provided for festival sites, and grants in aid were made to the Council of Industrial Design, theArts Council, the British Film Institute and the National Museum of Wales for work underataken as part of the festival. The records of the Office were taken over by the Ministry of Works in 1953.

Scope and content

This series contains records of the Arts Council that relate to theFestival of Britain. The records contain information relating to the planning of the festival, correspondence, art exhibitions, regional festival activities, music, opera, drama, and poetry.

Records of the Festival of Britain Office and its predecessor bodies are in class WORK 25 at the Public Record Office in Kew.