Registrars Department

Files include loan out files and files recording potential loans which were cancelled.

Registrars are responsible for organising the transport, security, insurance and display of works of art, both at the National Gallery and whilst travelling to and between other venues. The Collection Registrars make these arrangements for the Gallery's own paintings when they are lent to exhibitions and for long loans in to the Gallery. Exhibition Registrars are responsible for loans in to the Gallery's exhibitions and orchestrate the installations and dismantling of these shows. Registrars also maintain the inventory of the Collection.

Prior to 1977, the responsibility to arrange the receipt, dispatch and insurance of pictures lay with the Junior Keeper. In 1952 these responsibilities were assumed by the Senior Executive Officer, who was also responsible for organizing the distribution of the Loan Collection with the Arts Council. The first Registrar was appointed in February 1977 to record the movement of all pictures inside and outside the building, including loans into the Gallery; the Registrar had formerly been a member of the Library staff, and remained located within the Library for the next few years. In 1990, the post came under the Exhibition and Display Department and from 1991 it was a department in its own right..

In 2012 the Registrar function was split between the Collection Registrars and the Exhibition Registrars.

The files were kept by the department before transfer to the record store

NG16/482: Registry files for earlier file system