This is the fourth list to be prepared of papers deriving from the Society now known as the Anti-Slavery Society for the Protection of Human Rights. To understand the present list, and also the past history of the Society and its papers, it is essential to study the guide to the first deposit of papers, which traced the story of the Society from its origins in the early nineteenth century to 1941, and the guides to the first two decennial accessions, which cover the periods to 1951 and 1961. Information already given in these three guides is not repeated in this fourth list, which is confined to a description of the decennial accession of 1961-1971 only.

The third decennial accession, covering the years 1961-1971, with a few scattered papers of later date, was received sooner than usual, because the Society moved its premises. The accession includes a surprising amount of early material, dating back as far as 1826, the result, probably, of clearing the offices, while at the same time much less material than before was received in the territorial sections, where papers were probably retained for current reference purposes. The administrative and financial papers are more complete that those received with previous accessions and three minute books, the backbone of the papers, have been added to the series already received, bringing it up to 1965.

The most important nineteenth century accession is the Mauritius volume of the Mico Charity correspondence (E1 / 15) which, together with the Grenada volume received earlier (E1 / 14), brings the number of these volumes up to fifteen. Further nineteenth century papers are contained in files D11 / 8 (file 3), G825, G833, G910 and G911. Early twentieth century papers of particular interest arrived in a large file, possibly the property of W. E. Hardenburg, and concern the Putumayo atrocities in Peru (G822-G824). Papers which long predate the nominal period of the accession appear in many files.

As nearly as possible the papers have been arranged using the system applied to the previous deposits. Section D10 continues the twentieth century series of correspondence and D11 the administrative and financial papers of the Society. The minute books and a number of account books fall into section E. Section F contains receipt counterfoil books. Section G is made up of a relatively small collection of territorial files, largely predating the general period of the accession, and of files on specific subjects or concerning relationships with other organizations, including anti-slavery societies in other countries set up during the 1960s. The very few papers on the Fund for the Welfare of Africans in Europe have been incorporated with the papers of the last accession (H3 / 3 (file 4)). Finally, the J section is composed of press cuttings.

Wherever possible, that is wherever the papers were not found loose or disarranged, the Society's method of arranging papers within files has been retained. Where an order has had to be imposed, a chronological method has been followed. The Society was not consistent, when using an alphabetic arrangement, in its treatment of individuals and organizations. Sometimes an organization will be filed under the name of its secretary, while at others individuals are identified by the titles of organizations with which they were connected. It is important to bear both in mind if a complete run of correspondence is sought.

Where files were coded by the Society, the number or abbreviated title has been given in square brackets, prefaced by the letters Soc. The Society's file titles have been indicated by the use of inverted commas where this distinction has been thought likely to prove helpful.

Some repairs have been made to documents received in this accession using Crompton laminating tissue. These are reversible using alcohol. Some papers have been mounted and repaired using Gripfix.

The spines of volumes E4 / 24-29, 32 and 36 have been consolidated to receive yellow labels using a special experimental fluid made in the conservation department of the Bodleian Library.