| Admin History | The Berkshire Architectural Records Committee was formed in December 1940 with the aim to produce a photographic record of buildings of merit which may be damaged or destroyed by enemy bombing. Willcocks proposed the formation of the committee and was the Honorary Secretary throughout its existence. The Committee worked in conjunction with the National Buildings Record, although Willcocks believed that the NBR was responding too slowly and this led to some disagreements. Willcocks believed that the idea for the National Buildings Record came from a proposal that he had put forward for the organisation of area committees, to the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in August 1940 [see letter to Mr Godfrey, 12 November 1941 (D/EWK/B4/4/2].
The committee proposed to encourage photographers to photograph religious and secular buildings with a copy of the photograph to be kept by Berkshire County Council, and the negatives and a further copy to be held by the Courtauld Institute of Art. Architects were also encouraged to provide copies of measured drawings. By 1947 the committee had collected over 5,350 photographs and the committee was disbanded in June 1947 as Willcocks was unwilling to continue to act as Honorary Secretary and the threat to the buildings from bombing had passed. The Architectural Records Sub-committee of the Berkshire Archaeological Society took over the work of the committee. |