VPRS 13141 Gas and Fuel Archival Collection

Full description

The Archival Collection of the Gas and Fuel Corporation was made up of records and other memorabilia objects created and received by the Gas and Fuel Corporation and its predecessor private gas companies. These included the City of Melbourne Gas and Coke Company, South Melbourne Gas Company, Brighton Gas Company, Metropolitan Gas Company and Collingwood, Fitzroy and District Gas and Coke Company. The collection was arranged and described by the Archive and put together with items that were no longer in administrative use.

A Microsoft Access database was the main finding aid of the Gas and Fuel Corporation's Archival Collection.

It is unknown when the Gas and Fuel Archive was established. It is also unknown when the Gas and Fuel Archive database was first placed onto the Access database. A reference in Straight to the Source published by the Monash Public History Group in 1995 states that the database was available in hard copy or microform. It also stated that it was progressively being placed online (which can be assumed referred to data being entered into the Access database rather than placed on the Internet). A reference in A Guide to the Gas and Fuel Archive from June 1995 also states that "a project is in progress to add details of all items to a computerised database". There was evidence that this had begun by June 1995, in that the Guide refers to records by their Archive number - which was the unique identifier each entry in the computerised database was given.

The Guide also states that in June 1995 there was an Archives Room in one of the Gas and Fuel towers located on Flinders Street. It appears that the database (in whichever format) was available for searching, and the records were located in or near this room. However, access was limited to those who had filled in an Access Application Form and had been approved by the Manager of the Corporate Affairs Department, Ray Proudley. It is also unknown when work stopped on the Archive and on the database. All that is known is that the collection and the database that controlled it were transferred into PROV custody in September 2001.

The Guide can be found in VPRS 13252 as it was not found within the Archival Collection, but amongst the uncatalogued material found with the Archival Collection. This uncatalogued material has since been serialised by the PROV.