Record series
Outward Letter Books
VPRS 1748
by 1874 - 1994
Open
North Melbourne
Agencies
This record series was created by:
Heidelberg (Road Trust 1841-1860; Road District 1860-1871; Shire 1871-1934; City 1934-1994) ( VA444 ): 1874 - 1994
Agencies responsible for this record series: Banyule (City 1994-ct) ( VA 3670 ): 1994 - present
Date Range
Series date range: 1874 - 1994
Series in custody:
1874 - 1994
Contents in custody:
1874 - 1994
Function / Content
This series consists of outward letter books created by City of Heidelberg (VA 444).Letter books were the means by which copies of correspondence dispatched from the office were retained for future reference.
Outward letter books formed an integral part of official municipal correspondence systems until well into the twentieth century. When letter books were in use inward correspondence was filed separately from the replies.
Consignments P0, P2 & P3 contain general letter books created by the Shire Secretary, Town Clerk, Chief Administrator, and City Manager
Consignment P4 contains letter books created by the Engineering Branch.
Consignment P5 contains letter books created by the Town Planning and Building Branch.
How to use the records
Consult the Consignment Details List and order in the volume covering the time period of interest.Where an index exists, consult the index for the number of the letter of interest.
Where no index exists, researchers will need to leaf through the volume to locate the letters of interest.
Recordkeeping system
Correspondence within letter books was arranged in chronological order by the date of writing. Pages of volumes were numbered for ease of reference. In early volumes, the numbering sequence reflected the time period recorded in the volumes. Later letter books (from 1930 onwards) were provided with annual single number page references.An index was created for most years, which provided a page number reference for the time period covered by the index. Retrieval of correspondence in the letter books was usually by the year and page number or the volume and page number.
