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Physical Archive & Library

Physical Archive & Library

OR Archive

The world's only official national OR archive is the OR and OR Society Archive based at the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick. This archive, which was set up and funded by The OR Society, continues to grow. In addition to the early OR Society papers, the archive contains several personal deposits including one by the late Professor Steve Cook and papers from many OR groups. These include British Gas, BOAC, the former Local Government OR Unit and a large deposit from the former United Steel Company. Members of the archives committee are trying to track down material from the former Liverpool Gas, Light & Coke Co, which had one of the earliest postwar OR groups. Any leads would be welcome.

Using the Archive in Person

There shouldn’t be any access restrictions on the archive material, but if you intend to visit, please email beforehand to check availability.

Visitors are not allowed down into the archive vaults to leaf through the contents, but must request items in the reception area. Boxes are brought up to the visitor for inspection here. Terminals allow the visitor to access the catalogue listings. MRC are currently upgrading their cataloguing software, and re-cataloguing their contents. When complete, this should give easier listings and make it faster to find specific items.

OR Archive on the web

Hosted by Warwick University, the 'Operational Research Club/Operational Research Society 1950-2000' archive can be found here.