Secret Files in the United Kingdom’s National Archives

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26686/arch.10686

Keywords:

Defense information, Classified, Politics and government -- Archives, Great Britain, Security classification (Government documents)

Abstract

This article discusses the release in 2016 by the National Archives of the United Kingdom of a database of selected British government secret intelligence and foreign policy files from the late 1800s through to 1953, mainly from the 1930s and 1940s. Comments are made on issues of completeness, selection and purpose in making formerly classified documents available. It is noted that the released documents represent only a tiny fraction of the documents for this period held by the UK organisations. The article examines what the documents illustrate about the role of New Zealand in British and Commonwealth defense, intelligence, and economic planning.

Metadata reused from the National Library of New Zealand Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa under a CC BY 4.0 license.

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Author Biographies

Richard Hill, Victoria University of Wellington

Richard Hill is Professor of New Zealand Studies at the Stout Research Centre for New Zealand Studies at Victoria University of Wellington, where he is also Director of the Treaty of Waitangi Research Unit. He has written books on the history of Crown-Maori relations and policing in New Zealand. Among other things, he is currently working on the history of covert state surveillance in New Zealand and carrying out international comparative research on colonial policing.

Emma Kelly

Dr Emma Kelly has worked as an image archivist at the New Zealand Herald which sparked her interest in the philosophy of archives. She completed her PhD on bicultural archive philosophy and practice on Jonathan Dennis, founder of Ngä Taonga Sound and Vision. She has just completed a very happy year as a resident at the Stout Centre for Research in NZ Studies. She is now working as a Researcher/Analyst at the Waitangi Tribunal.

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Published

2017-01-01

Issue

2017

Section

Articles