Location
The Charles Close Society Archives are located in the Map Department of Cambridge University Library, West Road, Cambridge CB3 9DR
(http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/deptserv/maps/index.html).
Hours
The collection is open during normal library hours : 9.30 am to 5.10 pm Monday to Thursdays, 9.30 am to 4.50 pm on Fridays (though no fetching is possible between 12.45 pm and 2.00 pm), and 9.30 am to 12.45 pm on Saturdays.
Access
Appointments for access to the Archives should be made in advance by contacting the Head of the Map Department, Anne Taylor, by letter, by telephone (01223 333041) or by email (maps@lib.cam.ac.uk).
Anyone wishing to use the collection must first acquire a Cambridge University Library reader's ticket. An appointment to acquire a ticket should be made in advance with the Admissions Office (telephone 01223 333084, email admissions@lib.cam.ac.uk).
Members of the Charles Close Society wishing to consult the Charles Close Society Archives will not be charged for a ticket on production of their current CCS membership card and providing that they have first contacted Anne Taylor who will support their application.
The Collections
The archive contains documentary and printed material dealing with cartographic matters which are relevant in particular to the Ordnance Survey.
Brief catalogue records for items in the Charles Close Society Archives can be found in the Access to Archives (A2A) database at The National Archives
To search only for items in the CCS Archives go to ‘Advanced Search’, click on the ‘Repository’ box and select:
‘Cambridge University Library, Charles Close Society Archives’
Then type specific words, phrases etc. in the other boxes.
To browse lists of the whole of the Archives type “Charles Close Society” [inverted commas are not required] in the ‘this exact wording or phrase’ box.
There is further information on CUL website
The online catalogue has not been updated since 2007. An up to date summary catalogue of the archive is available in spreadsheet form in the Map Department at Cambridge.
Owing to its length the online catalogue is divided into seven sections:
Source materials acquired from:
Ordnance Survey [OS] may be found in the fourth, fifth and sixth sections
Ordnance Survey of Ireland [OSI] and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland [OSNI] are in the seventh.
Ordnance Survey International records [DOS] are in the second section.
The first section comprises materials acquired from six sources :
Archibald Frederick Brown [AFB]
Alan Godfrey Maps[AG]
Brian Warren Adams [BWA]
The Charles Close Society [CCS]
Cartographics [CG]
Other dealers [DEAL]
The third section comprises materials acquired from five others :
Frederick Joyce [FJ]
Charles E Goad Ltd [GOAD]
Kenneth Guy Messenger [KGM]
Langdon Rowe [LR]
The Defence Geographic Centre, Ministry of Defence [MOD]
A brief description of the type of material to be found in each of these collections may be found at the start of each.
Maps
Many maps are held throughout the archive; in particular many Ordnance Survey files contain record copies of maps, some in experimental form. Searching on map scales in the form "1:2500" or "1:63,360" (N.B. without comma to 1:9999), or on shortform titles such as "Seventh Series" should lead to maps as well as documents of interest. It is, however, not our policy in general for the archive to hold copies of Ordnance Survey or military maps, though it is hoped that the current owners of rare or even unique printings of maps will view the archive as a safe and permanent place of deposit. Many such maps are at risk or disposal, dispersal or destruction, and the disappearance of such irreplaceable items would be a permanent loss to our Ordnance Survey heritage.
Digital Images
A collection of digital images of Ordnance Survey maps, which survive in tiny numbers and are at risk of extinction is held in boxes 218A and 218B in the Archive. See here for full list of archived digital images.