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Minutes and the Man: J.E.W. Flood and British Imperial Economic Policy at the Colonial Office in the Interwar Years
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 June 2021
Abstract
Archival sources, especially correspondence between officials, have been critical to the reconstruction of the history of colonial territories. Minutes, confidential comments that informed the decisions transmitted in official correspondence (known as dispatches), though important, are often neglected. This paper highlights the value of minutes and demonstrates their optimal utilization through the lens of the career of J.E.W. Flood, a prolific middle level career officer at the Colonial Office. His minutes on various issues across the interwar period shed light on the undercurrents and debates among officials at Whitehall that shaped aspects of British imperial economic policy during the period.
Résumé
Les sources archivistiques, en particulier la correspondance entre fonctionnaires, ont été essentielles à la reconstruction de l’histoire des territoires coloniaux. Les comptes-rendus et commentaires confidentiels qui ont éclairé les décisions transmises dans la correspondance officielle (appelés dépêches), bien qu’importants, ont souvent été négligés par les chercheur.e.s. Cet article met en évidence la valeur de ces comptes-rendus et montre comment les utiliser au mieux au prisme de la carrière de J.E.W. Flood, un administrateur prolifique de carrière de niveau intermédiaire au Colonial Office. Ses comptes-rendus sur diverses questions pendant l’entre-deux-guerres permettent de mettre en lumière les courants sous-jacents et les débats entre fonctionnaires de Whitehall qui ont façonné certains aspects de la politique économique impériale britannique au cours de cette période.
- Type
- Rethinking Africa’s Archives and Oral Sources
- Information
- Copyright
- © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the African Studies Association
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