Papers compiled by the athlete and statistician Dave Roberts. The collection primarily comprises material relating to the Road Runners Club (RRC) although there is some material related to Mitcham Athletic Club. The papers include a number of athletics programmes, almost all concerning the London to Brighton road race; results and statistics; and papers relating to the RRC and Mitcham Athletic Club. There are also a number of scrapbooks, compiled by Dave Roberts, which provide a detailed overview of athletics in England during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.
Papers of Dave Roberts
Archive Collection
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- ReferenceGB 150 ATH/DR
- Dates of Creation[1930s]-1991
- Name of Creator
- Language of MaterialEnglish
- Physical Description2 standard boxes (comprising 15 volumes 1 file and 100 items)
Scope and Content
Administrative / Biographical History
Dave Roberts was born in Canada and later moved to Cardiff and was associated with Roath Harriers. He then moved to Tooting Bec Hospital where he was employed as a nurse and he became a member of Mitcham Athletic Club. He had a particular interest in collecting athletics results and recording the personal road performances of the long distance runners of Great Britain. When the Road Runners Club (RRC) was formed in 1952, Dave became their first Honorary Statistician. In 1962 he published 'Distance Running Records' which carried a foreword written by John Jewell. During the 1960s Dave suffered from ill health and he died in 1972.
Sources: papers of Dave Roberts; information compiled by John Bromhead and stored with the deposit file
Arrangement
These papers have been arranged into the following 5 series:
athletics programmes and related ephemera;
results and statistics;
papers relating to the Road Runners Club (RRC);
papers relating to Mitcham Athletic Club;
scrapbooks and cuttings
Access Information
Open. Access to all registered researchers.
Other Finding Aids
Please see full catalogue for more information.
Conditions Governing Use
Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance in writing from the Director of Special Collections (email: special-collections@contacts.bham.ac.uk). Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult. Special Collections will assist where possible with identifying copyright owners, but responsibility for ensuring copyright clearance rests with the user of the material.
Custodial History
This collection was previously in the custody of John Jewell who sorted the papers and sent them to the National Centre for Athletics Literature (NCAL).