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Archives |
The collection of Avec papers is unique and extraordinarily valuable. These files are all open for public view. The collection contains, for instance, a vast number of position and briefing papers about work situations and projects by those involved in them. These papers profile situations, describe the practitioners’ beliefs and approaches, the opportunities and difficulties they faced and the help they needed. Some notes of the analytical and consultative discussions which led to designing work programmes are also included and, in some cases, reports. The intrinsic value and reliability of this material is high: it was presented to get help and was thoroughly examined by groups of practitioners and work consultants — some notes of which are available.
The main sections are:
- Community-development
- The Methodist Church in Britain and community development, 1964-1980
- Parchmore Methodist Church Youth and Community Centre Project (one of the Ten-Centres Scheme) 1966-1972
- Project 70-75 (an ecumenical action-research project to test the applicability of church and community development approaches) 1970-1976
- Avec, an ecumenical agency for church and community development (1976-1994)
- Subsequent work
- T.R. Batten's papers and articles about his life and work (to be made available later).
The Avec section is the most extensive and includes papers related to:
- the far reaching discussions about how the agency could achieve its purposes and the problems it faced
- courses, including those for missionaries work consultancy with individuals, projects, and group consultancies.
All this work was treated as action research and fully recorded and evaluated by the participants themselves, the staff and trustees, and through an independent research programme.
Catalogue
See the description of Avec Archives: Annotated Catalogue. A Supplement to the Catalogue is available only in the archives.
Accessing the archives
Access to the archive can be arranged by contacting the Westminster Oxford Research Network using the link below.
Some items are housed in the Gibbs Room in central Oxford. Follow the link for opening hours and address. Access is by appointment only.
https://woxresearch.co.uk/collections/
The majority of the archive is stored off site but can be ordered and viewed at the Gibbs Room using this contact form: