Cooper McDougall and Robertson Ltd

Identity Statement

Reference code(s)	: GB 0120 WF/C
Held at	: Wellcome Library   Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://wellcomelibrary.org/ ›
Full title	: Cooper McDougall and Robertson Ltd
Date(s)	: [1824 -1989]
Level of description	: Collection (fonds)
Extent	: 310 boxes plus 135 items
Name of creator(s)	: Cooper McDougall and Robertson Ltd
Detailed catalogue	: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

While Coopers was primarily a veterinary and agricultural products company, it was not entirely so. During the 1950s and 1960s, Coopers became the first firm in Britain to produce aerosols on a large scale, and this fact is mentioned many times in their advertising for such products. They also branched out, for a time, into the production and/or sale of domestic household goods such as cleaners, toilet rolls and hair care products. Not all of these were actually sold under the Coopers name, and some were manufactured by subsidiaries rather than by Coopers themselves.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Papers of Cooper McDougall and Robertson Ltd, [1824-1989], including board and subsidiary minute books and meeting papers; secretariat papers and statutory records under the Companies Acts; senior managers' papers (including K J Merrifield and A L McNeilly), including material relating to relations with external bodies and acquisition of companies, and reports on overseas visits; financial records including material relating to salaries; legal records including agreements and papers re litigation, patents and trade marks; research and development papers and some relating to manufacturing; marketing papers, including some operational papers, also company publications, product literature, memorabilia including photographs, films , printed ephemera, accounts of company history and material relating to the Cooper family and company employees; external publications; and objects including company seals; miscellaneous operational records including 1940s complaints register; products; William Cooper's pestle and mortar [now missing], copy of publication, and notebooks, 1859-1880s; company publications; publications from the WF series; veterinary research and development records of the Coopers Technical Bureau including correspondence, reports and experiment results, 1896-1956; correspondence with War Office relating to supplies of veterinary products 1914-1917; dipping experiment tables 1918-1937 and complaints register c 1940-1947.

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

It appears that the unreferenced material was originally boxed roughly in the order in which it was found, and that this order was disarranged after conservation work was carried out. The material was then put into the crates in which it was then stored, along with some related material. Old crate and box references are known only for material in crates 197-205 and 208.

Conditions governing access:

Most catalogued papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking. UNCATALOGUED MATERIAL IS NOT AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC. The following items are subject to closure: WF/C/S/06/03 WF/C/S/08/02 WF/C/S/08/03 WF/C/S/15/12 WF/C/S/15/13 WF/C/S/18/03 WF/C/S/24/01 WF/C/S/25/01 The following item is subject to restrictions: WF/C/S/17/10

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Finding aids:

Detailed guide to finding aids available at the Wellcome Library.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

See detailed description on the Wellcome Library website

Allied Materials

Related material:

See Acc 87/97 in box WGA 302 (note in attached guide to finding aids) **NB THIS ITEM NOT YET CATALOGUED, PLEASE ENQUIRE**

Associated material retained by GSK: Acc 99/2, Acc 99/6 pt, Acc 99/52 and Acc 99/60 among post-1995 accessions to the Glaxo Wellcome Heritage Archives (now held by GSK). As at 2001, the Scottish Life Archive, Royal Museum of Scotland, Chambers Street, Edinburgh, had a few items produced by Coopers (advertising material) - W.MS.1997.722/57. A few items relating to Coopers are held by the Berkhamsted Local History Society. A number of relevant records are held at Rural History Centre, University of Reading, Whiteknights, PO Box 229, Reading RG6 6AG: Leaflets, pamphlets, labels and stationery samples 1880s-1920s; rival firms' advertisements, posters and leaflets 1880s-90s; press cuttings c.1889-1905; company publication re agricultural depression 1896; testimonials 1908-16; posters advertising sheep dips for home and overseas markets 1913-17; articles re company history 1960, 1972; annual review 1987; company brochure c 1980s; Coopers International News 1987-89. [Refs: TR CMR/AC7/1; P1/B1; P2/A-B; P3/A-B1; P4/1-4; P8-9; SP1]

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Edited for AIM25 by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions:
In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions:
May 2008