Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP)

The Australian Joint Copying Project (AJCP) is a collection of historical material relating to Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific dating from 1560 to 1984.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visitors are kindly advised that this website includes images, sounds and names of people who have passed.

All users should be aware that some topics or historical content may be culturally sensitive, offensive or distressing, and that some images may contain nudity or are of people not yet identified. Certain words, terms or descriptions may reflect the author's/creator's attitude or that of the period in which they were written, but are now considered inappropriate in today's context.

Key to library resources

Access anywhere with a library card In the Library (or anywhere with a Library card for NSW residents)
Available to access in the library Only in the Library
Publicly available online Publicly available

Classification

Class number

Within Departments (Colonial Office, War Office etc.) records are grouped archivally into classes, and assigned a number. eg. CO 201 NSW Original Correspondence.

A class is a group of records located together on the basis of form (eg. WO 22 Pension Returns), or geographical emphasis (eg. CO 13 South Australia Original Correspondence).

  • There are usually no detailed subject indexes to these classes.
  • Documents within each class are ordered by date, so the year is the key to the records.

See Accessing the collection for a guide on searching by class number.

AJCP Handbook No.2 – Colonial Office (Class Numbers)

AJCP Handbook No.2 – Colonial Office (Class Numbers)

Piece number

The Class Number is followed by a Piece Number.

eg. CO 201/ pieces 1-107

The piece number is the section of the microfilm reel on which the record can be found, and is a running number.

AJCP Handbook No.1 – A shelf list (inventory) of all 10,000 reels in the AJCP (Class and Piece numbers)

AJCP Handbook No.1 – A shelf list (inventory) of all 10,000 reels in the AJCP (Class and Piece numbers)

In the next example, (AJCP Handbook No 4 – War Office), records for Class WO 12 Muster Books and Pay Lists of British Regiments are displayed.

Each record has four elements: Reel No. (PRO 3698), Piece No. (2216), Date (1834 Apr – 1835 Mar), Description of the actual record: 4TH Regiment Muster and Pay Lists.

As you scroll through reel PRO 3698 you will come to a tab marked 2216 (piece no.), the date the piece covers – Apr 1834 – Mar 1835, and a description of the record – 4th Regiment Muster and Pay Lists.

AJCP Handbook No.4 War Office

AJCP Handbook No.4 War Office

See Accessing the collection for a guide on searching by piece number.