British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939-2009

Scanned from source at the British Library, this collection contains a carefully curated selection of materials produced by the British Ministry of Information (MOI) and Central Office of Information (COI) during the period 1939–2009.

The items are diverse in nature, ranging from posters and stickers to pamphlets and guidance booklets. The subject matter is just as varied, covering public health, education, social security, civil defence, international politics, race relations, sex discrimination, public sector career opportunities, policing, the environment, and Britain’s membership of the European Economic Community. Most of the items were published during the post-war period, but some date from the First and Second World Wars.

The collection therefore provides students and researchers with a unique insight into what successive British governments wanted their citizens to know, think, and do, as well as how their methods of achieving their aims changed over time. In addition, it reveals the image of Britain that different governments chose to project to the rest of the world.

[This collection] is of enduring interest to social historians.

British Library, London

Insights

The Central Office of Information (COI) was a British government department established in 1946 as the successor to the wartime Ministry of Information (MOI).

The COI and MOI were responsible for informing and influencing the British public on a wide range of issues, from social security and education to foreign policy and food safety.

To this end, both worked with and on behalf of other departments and public bodies to design and produce appropriate publicity and propaganda materials.

The COI was disbanded in 2012 as part of the coalition government’s so-called “bonfire of the quangos.” Its records were subsequently deposited at the British Library, British Film Institute (BFI), National Archives, and Imperial War Museum.

The material in this online collection is drawn from the British Library’s COI archive, which is kept in storage at the organisation’s site in Boston Spa, Yorkshire.

The documents are divided into seven volumes: Defence and armed forces, 1914-2001; Political economy and trade, 1938-1996; Welfare state, 1940-1997; Democracy and government, 1936-1999; Policing, public order, and personal security, 1972-1996; Immigration and race, 1940-2006; and Central Office of Information (COI) and government communication, 1946-2009.

Users can search for documents within each volume by British Library shelfmark number, sub-theme, date range, and government department, amongst other categories.

Highlights

Document

Collection of 'War Brevities', 1940

Document

COI Reference pamphlet on the British Parliament, 1959

Document

Issue I of 'Equals', 1975

Document

'Protect and Survive' pamphlet, 1980

A Guide to British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939-2009

British Government Information and Propaganda: Collections at the British Library and Elsewhere

British Government Information and Propaganda, 1939-2009: Further Reading

Editorial Board

Professor David Welch Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for the Study of Propaganda and War at the University of Kent David Welch is Emeritus Professor of Modern History and Honorary Director of the Centre for the Study of War, Propaganda and Society, at the University of Kent. His research interest is in modern and contemporary political propaganda. In 2013, he co-curated the exhibition on propaganda and persuasion at the British Library and authored the book that accompanied the exhibition, Propaganda. Power and Persuasion (British Library/Chicago University Press, 2013).

Jennie Grimshaw Curator, Official Publications and Social Policy Jennie Grimshaw has worked with the official publications collections at the British Library since 1996, when she was asked to take over as manager of the Official Publications and Social Sciences Reading Room. This was a dramatic change of career direction as she had previously been a cataloguer at the British National Bibliography and subsequently at the Science Reference and Information Service. She has a particular interest in web archiving and has curated themed collections of archived websites on Brexit and all the general elections since 2005.